Question

One hot air balloon is 15 meters above the ground, and is rising at a rate of 20 meters per minute. A second balloon is 195 meters above the ground , and is descending at a rate of 16 meters per minute. In how many minutes will the two balloons be at the same height?

Answer 1

The best way to see what is happening in both situations is to create a table showing the new elevation after each minute.

Please see the attached picture for the work.

After five minutes, both balloons will be at the same height.