Tuesday 27 January 2015

algebra precalculus - Time and distance: Buses traveling in opposite directions



Two buses starting from two different places A and B simultaneously, travel towards each other and meet after a specified time. If the bus starting from A is delayed by 20 minutes, they meet 12 minutes later than the usual time. If the speed of the bus starting from A is 60km/hr, what is the speed of the second bus?




My attempt:



Let t be the usual time of meeting and s(A) and s(B) be the speeds of Bus A and Bus B respectively, then



Applying relative velocity concept (stopping bus B i.e. taking it's speed =0 and adding it to speed of A), i got:



s(A)= 60 (given)



(60 + s(B))t = d (distance between the buses)




Now if bus A is delayed by 20 mins, then B's travelling time is 20 mins more than A's to cover the same distance.



t(B) = t(A) + 20/60



hence, t(B)= t(A) + 1/5



distance covered by A = t(A) * 60



distance covered by B = t(B) * s(B) = (t(A) +1/5)*s(B)




The problem: How do i relate the delay of 12 mins in their meeting time?


Answer



ADDED. Solution using your equations and making the necessary corrections and additions.



(60 + s(B))t = d



distance covered by A = t(A) * 60



distance covered by B = t(B) * s(B) = (t(A) +1/5)*s(B)




(distance between buses = d = distance covered by A + distance covered by B)




t(B) = t(A) + 20/60



hence, t(B) = t(A) + 1/5




Correction: 20/60 = 1/3; hence, t(B) = t(A) + 1/3.





How do i relate the delay of 12 mins in their meeting time?




t(B) = t + 1/5.






Let $d$ be the distance from $A$ to $B$, $v_{A}=60$ km/hr be the speed of

the bus departing from $A$ and $v_{B}$ the speed of the bus departing from $B$. If both buses start simultaneously, $v_{A}t$ is the distance traveled by bus $A$ and $v_{B}t$ is the the distance traveled by bus $B$, where $t$ is the usual time they spend to meet each other. We have



$$v_{A}t+v_{B}t=d.$$



(The units have to be consistent: e.g. speed in km/hr, time in hours and distance in km). If the bus starting from $A$ is delayed by 20 minutes =$\frac{1}{3}$ hour,
then bus $A$ travels the distance $v_{A}(t-1/3+1/5)$ and bus $B$ travels $v_{B}(t+1/5)$, because they meet $12$ minutes = $\frac{1}{5}$ hour later than the usual time $t$.



$$v_{A}(t-1/3+1/5)+v_{B}(t+1/5)=d.$$



Equate both equations




$$v_{A}t+v_{B}t= v_{A}(t-1/3+1/5)+v_{B}(t+1/5),$$



and simplify



$$\frac{2}{15}v_{A}-\frac{1}{5}v_{B}=0.$$



Since $v_{A}$ is 60km/hr, we have



$$\frac{2}{15}\left( 60\right) -\frac{1}{5}v_{B}=0,$$




whose solution is $v_{B}=40$ km/hr.


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