Two Cars on Crete

Date: 08/30/97 at 00:50:08
From: windows
Subject: Two cars

Two cars on Crete left towns of Knossos and Phaistos at the same time 
to drive to the other town, passing each other at Gortyns and both 
travelling at different steady speeds. The car from Knossos completed 
the journey from Gortyns to Phaistos in 45 minutes at a steady speed 
of 64 km/h. The car from Phaistos completed the journey from Gortyns 
to Knossos in 20 minutes. Find the speed of the car from Phaistos.

Date: 09/03/97 at 10:47:03
From: Doctor Rob
Subject: Re: Two cars

Let P be the speed of the car from Phaistos.  Let D be the distance 
from Knossos to Phaistos.  The distance from Phaistos to Gortyns is 
64*45/60 = 48 km.  The distance from Gortyns to Knossos is x - 48 km.  

Since the cars passed each other in Gortyns, each of them travelled 
for the same length of time, so 48/P = (x-48)/64, which gives us one 
equation. The distance from Gortyns to Knossos is x - 48 = P*20/60, 
which gives us a second equation.  

Solve them for P.

-Doctor Rob,  The Math Forum
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