SOLUTION: If two planes leave the same airport at 1:00 PM, how many miles apart will they be at 3:00 PM if one travels directly north at 150 mph and the other travels directly west at 200 mp

Click here to see ALL problems on Travel Word Problems

Question 63435: If two planes leave the same airport at 1:00 PM, how many miles apart will they be at 3:00 PM if one travels directly north at 150 mph and the other travels directly west at 200 mph?
Found 2 solutions by uma, 303795:
Answer by uma(370) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Distance covered by the plane moving north in 2 hrs = 150 * 2
= 300 miles
Distance covered by the plane moving west in 2 hrs = 200 * 2
= 400 miles
So at 3 PM both the planes would have covered the above distances.
We know that North and West are perpendicular to each other.
So by Pythagorean theorem,
distance between them = sqrt(300^2 + 400^2)
= sqrt(900 + 1600)
= sqrt(2500)
= 50
THus they are 50 miles at 3 PM
Good luck!!!

Answer by 303795(602) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The north moving plane travels at 150 mile per hour so it travels 300 miles in two hours.
The west moving plane travels at 200 mile per hour so it travels 400 miles in two hours.
A diagram showing these distance and directions is a right angle triangle so the Pythagorean Theorem may be used.

Find the square root of each side gives c=500
So the two planes will be 500 miles apart at 3pm