Bob and Mary start traveling toward each other from 480 miles apart, each moving at the same speed. They meet after four hours.

How fast were they each traveling?

I had 20 and then 144 I have tried this problem and everything is wrong.

They have each traveled half of 480 miles, which is 240 miles.

240 / 4 = 60 miles per hour

is that all that you have to do? Is there not a formula that needs to be followed? By the way thank you very much. I am however not good at all with speed and distance problems.

There may be formulas -- but I don't know them. Common sense can solve a lot of them -- like this one.

distance = rate * time :)

To find the speed at which Bob and Mary were traveling, you can use the formula:

speed = distance / time

Given that Bob and Mary start traveling from 480 miles apart and meet after four hours, we know that the total distance traveled by both Bob and Mary is 480 miles. This is because they are initially separated by 480 miles and when they meet, the total distance they have traveled is equal to the distance they were apart originally.

So, the formula can be rewritten as:

speed = 480 miles / 4 hours

Now let's calculate the speed:

speed = 480 miles / 4 hours
= 120 miles per hour

Therefore, Bob and Mary were each traveling at a speed of 120 miles per hour.