Question 1076497
They are two legs of a right triangle where the hypotenuse is the distance apart.
In x hours, Tommy runs 5x miles and Zach runs 8(x-2) miles
Square both of them and set them equal to 16^2=256
25x^2+64x^2-256x+256=256
89x^2-256x=0

x(89x-256)=0
x=256/89=2.9 hours ANSWER
Tommy will be 14.5 miles away and Zach 7.2 miles away
14.5^2+1.8^2=210.25+51.84=261.09
sqrt (261.09)=16.16
if done with 2.876, then the legs are 14.380 and 7.008
49.112+206.78=255.90 and that sqrt is 15.996.