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| Question 5211:  I've been working on word problems, but this one has me stumped.
 A car travels 120 miles. A second car; traveling 10 mph faster than the first car, makes the same trip in one hour less time. Find the speed of each car.
 Found 2 solutions by  xcentaur, glabow:
 Answer by xcentaur(357)
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You can put this solution on YOUR website! distance travlled by first car=120 miles speed of first car=x mph
 time taken by first car=d/s=(120/x)hours
 
 
 speed of second car=(x+10)mph
 distance travelled=120 miles
 time taken=d/s=[120/(x+10)]hours
 
 
 Given,time taken by second car is one hour less than first car.
 then,
 
 
 120/x-120/(x+10)=1
 [120(x+10)-120x]/x(x+10)=1
 [120x-120x+1200]/x(x+10)=1
 1200/x(x+10)=1
 1200=x(x+10)
 x^2+10x-1200=0
 x^2+30x-40x-1200=0
 x(x+30)-40(x+30)=0
 (x+30)(x-40)=0
 x=-30 or +40
 
 Speed cannot be -ve.
 hence x=40 mph
 
 Thus speed of first car=40 mph,second car=50 mph
 
 Hope this helps,
 good luck.
Answer by glabow(165)
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