Problema Solution

Two ants are walking from opposite directions and approaching each other. The first ant has walked 139.6 cm in 2.3 minutes. The second ant has walked 88 cm in 1.6 minutes. After how many minutes will they meet if the distance between them is 150.41 cm?

Answer provided by our tutors

Let


d1 = 139.6 cm - the first ant walks in t1 = 2.3 min


d2 = 88 cm - the second ant walks in t2 = 1.6 min


d = 150.41 cm total distance between them


The speed is defined by distance/time so


v1 = d1/t1 = 139.6/2.3 cm/min the speed of the first ant


v2 = d2/t2 = 88/1.6 cm/min the speed of the first ant


Let 't' be the time we are looking for, then


v1*t + v2*t = d (at there meeting point the total distance = distance of the first ant + distance second ant)


139.6*t/2.3 + 88*t/1.6 = 150.41


t= 345943/266100 min = 1 min 18 sec approximately


The two ants will meet after 1 min 18 sec approximately.