Question 896280
the distance between them is 200 miles.
the first car travels x miles.
the second car travels 200 - x miles which is the difference between 200 and x.
they meet somewhere in the middle.


they both travel for 2 hours.
the rate of the first car is y
the rate of the second car is y - 4 because the first car is traveling 4 miles per hour faster than the second car.


you have:


first car travels x miles at a rate of y miles per hour.
second car travels 200 - x miles at a rate of y - 4 miles per hour.


they both travel for 2 hours.


rate * time = distance.


for the first car this becomes y * 2 = x
for the second car this becomes (y-4) * 2 = (200-x)


from the equation for the first car, you get x = y*2
you can replace x in the equation for the second car by y*2 and then solve for y.


you get:


(y-4) * 2 = (200 - x) becomes (y-4) * 2 = (200 - y*2)


that's your equation.


solve for y and you get your answer.


you should get the first car is traveling at 52 miles per hour and the second car is traveling at 48 miles per hour.


you can then solve for the distance and you should get the first car has traveled 104 miles and the second car has traveled 96 miles.