High School

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A helicopter leaves Central Airport and flies north at 180 mi/hr. Twenty minutes later, a plane leaves the airport and follows the helicopter at 330 mi/hr. How long does it take the plane to overtake the helicopter?

Answer :

Final answer:

To calculate the time for a plane to overtake a helicopter that left earlier, we find the helicopter's head start distance, determine the relative speed between them, and then calculate the time with the formula distance/speed. It takes 24 minutes for the plane to catch up.

Explanation:

The question involves calculating the time it takes for a plane flying at 330 mi/hr to overtake a helicopter that left 20 minutes earlier flying north at 180 mi/hr. We approach this problem by first determining the head start distance of the helicopter. Given that 20 minutes is 1/3 hour, the helicopter flies 1/3 hour × 180 mi/hr = 60 miles before the plane takes off.

Next, we calculate the relative speed between the plane and the helicopter, which is 330 mi/hr - 180 mi/hr = 150 mi/hr. This speed indicates how fast the distance between them is closing.

To find how long it takes the plane to cover the 60 miles gap at a speed of 150 mi/hr, we use the formula time = distance / speed. Therefore, it takes the plane 60 miles / 150 mi/hr = 0.4 hours, or 24 minutes, to overtake the helicopter.

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Rewritten by : Jeany

Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:

Let x represent the distance travelled by the helicopter and the plane.

Let t represent the time it takes the the helicopter to travel x miles

Speed of the helicopter is 180 miles per hour.

Distance travelled = speed × time

x = 180t

Twenty minutes later, a plane leaves the airport and follows the helicopter at 330mi/hr. Converting 20 minutes to hours, it becomes 20/60 minutes

Time taken for the plane to travel x miles is t - 20/60

x = 330(t - 20/60)

Before the plane overtakes the helicopter, they would have travelled equal distance. Therefore

330(t - 20/60) = 180t

330t - 110 = 180t

330t - 180t = 110

150t = 110

t = 110/150 = 0.73 hours