One car traveling at 55mi/h left a certai place 3h later than another car. The second car was traveling in the same direction at 40 mi/h. Inhow many hours ill the faster car ovrtae the other?

My work:

55(t-3) = 40t]
55t-165 = 40t
-55t -55t
-165 = -15t
/-15 /-15
11 = t
9 = t-3

I keep getting this answer, and my teacher told me it's worng, but I can't find what I'm doing wrong. Please HELP!!!

Since when is 11-3=9?

So we all have Duh moments.
Good work almost.

The wording of your problem is confusing.

The first car (car A) traveled at 40 mph and left three hours earlier than the second car (Car B).

Car A had traveled 120 miles when Car B left.
After 4 hours, A went 160 miles. B went 55 miles
5 hours: A went 200 mi. B went 110 mi.
6 hours: A went 240 mi. B went 165 mi.
7 hours: A went 280 mi. B went 220 mi.
8 hours: A went 320 mi. B went 275 mi.

Continue this chart to find your answer.
Then go back over your equation to find your error.

To solve this problem, let's analyze the situation step-by-step.

First, we need to set up equations based on the information provided. Let's call the time it takes for the faster car to catch up to the slower car "t".

Since we know that the slower car traveled for 3 hours longer than the faster car, we can express the time traveled by the slower car as "t + 3".

Next, we can use the formula distance = rate × time (d = rt) for both cars.

For the faster car:
Distance1 = 55 × t

For the slower car:
Distance2 = 40 × (t + 3) (Note that the slower car traveled for three hours longer)

To figure out when the faster car catches up to the slower car, we need the distances to be equal. So we set up the equation:

55t = 40(t + 3)

Now, let's solve this equation correctly:

55t = 40t + 120

Subtract 40t from both sides:

55t - 40t = 40t + 120 - 40t

15t = 120

Divide both sides by 15:

15t/15 = 120/15

t = 8

Hence, the faster car will overtake the slower car after 8 hours.

It seems like there was an arithmetic mistake in your original equation. By following these steps, we arrive at t = 8, which is the correct answer.