Problema Solution
Two snails are 345 cm apart. They crawl towards each other at rates that differ by 3 cm/min. after 23 min they meet . How fast is each snail crawling?
Answer provided by our tutors
let 'v' represent the slower snail's speed, then 'v+3' represents the faster snail's speed
let 'd' represent the distance in cm travelled by the slower snail, then '345-d' represents the distance travelled by the faster snail
distance = speed * time
we have this system of two equations with two unknowns:
d = 23v
345-d = 23(v+3)
solving this system we have:
v=6
d=138
6+3=9
the slower snail is travelling at 6 cm/min, the faster snail is travelling at 9 cm/min