Speed of the east bound cyclist is 12 mph and the speed of west bound cyclist is 15 mph.
<u>Solution:</u>
Let us assume that x is speed of slower eastbound cyclist
So, x+3 will be the speed of faster westbound cyclist
We know that distance is the product of speed and time. That is,

West-bound DATA:
Rate of speed = x+3 mph ; Time = 6 hrs ; distance = 6(x+3) = 6x+18 miles
East-bound DATA:
Rate of speed = x mph ; time = 6 hrs. ; distance = 6x miles
On solving,
Distance apart = 162



So, the rate of speed of the east bound cyclist is 12 mph and the rate of speed of the west bound cyclist will be 
8s-8 is answer
Just distribute
3 to the negative second power is written like this:

.
When simplifying an expression with a negative exponent, you take a positive version of the exponent, in this case that would be 2, and apply that to the base.
After doing that, we have 9.
The next step is to put one over that number.
In this case, now after doing that the answer is

.
Hope this helps!