Two cyclists leave a city at the same time, one going east and the other going west. The westbound cyclist bikes at 3 mph faster
than the eastbound cyclist. If after 6 hours they are 162 miles apart, how fast is each cyclist riding? If you can solve this, can you please show your work and explain what I need to plug in where, and what equation I need to use? This is so confusing.
We will say that the eastbound cyclist is going x mph. This means that the westbound cyclist is going x+3 mph. They are both cycling for 6 hours and end up 162 miles apart. Distance=rate*time 6x+6(x+3)=162 6x+6x+18+162 12x=144 x=12 So, the eastbound cyclist is going 12 mph. Remember the westbound cyclist is going 3 mph faster, so s/he is going 15 mph. Hope this helps!!