Question

At 8:00 A.M. the Smiths left a campground, driving at 48 mi/h. At 8:20 A.M. the Garcias left the same campground and followed the same route, driving at 60 mi/h. At what time did they overtake the Smiths?

Answer 1

Starting at 81 minutes

Explanation:

So an easier way to think of this is when is the Garcia's distance equivalent to the Smiths distance? You can make an equation where the Smith's distance is equivalent to the Garcia's distance.

Smith's distance = Garcia's distance
`48(x+20)=60x`, where `x` is the minutes
it's `(x+20)` because the Smith's had a 20 minutes head start

Solving for `x`, you get `x=80` minutes. So this means that they are both at the same distance after 80 minutes.

The question asked for the time that the Garcia's overtook the Smiths. Well, now that you know that they reach the same distance at 80 minutes, you can simply say that the Garcia's overtook the Smiths starting at 81 minutes.