Question

Jose left the White House and drove toward the recycling plant at an average speed of 40 km/h. Rob left some time later driving in the same direction at an average speed of 48 km/h. After driving for five hours Rob caught up with Jose. How long did Jose drive before Rob caught up?

Answer 1

Let $x$ represent Jose's drived distance and $y$ represent Rob's.
So what you need to do is to solve the equation:
$40x=48*5$
$40x=240$
$x=240/40=6$

So Jose drove for 6 hours before Rob caught him.