A cattle train left Miami and traveled toward New York. 14 hours later a diesel train left traveling at 45km/h in and effort to catch up to the cattle train. After traveling for four hours the diesel train finally caught up. What was the cattle train's average speed?
Sure hope they were on different tracks
let speed of of cattle train be x mph
when they met, cattle train went 18 hrs
distance gone by cattle train = 18x miles
speed of diesel train = 45 mph
when they met, diesel went 4(45) or 180 miles
Ahhh, but they went the same distance when they met
18x = 180
x = 10
cattle train went 10 mph
To determine the cattle train's average speed, we can use the formula:
Average Speed = Total Distance / Total Time
First, let's find the total distance traveled by the diesel train. We know it traveled for 4 hours at a speed of 45 km/h, so:
Distance traveled by the diesel train = Speed × Time
Distance traveled by the diesel train = 45 km/h × 4 h = 180 km
Now, let's calculate the total time it took for the cattle train to be caught. The cattle train left 14 hours before the diesel train caught up, so:
Total Time = Time traveled by the diesel train + Time difference
Total Time = 4 h + 14 h = 18 h
Next, we can find the average speed of the cattle train using the formula mentioned earlier:
Average Speed = Total Distance / Total Time
Average Speed = 180 km / 18 h = 10 km/h
Therefore, the average speed of the cattle train is 10 km/h.