A police officer is trying to catch a fleeing criminal. The criminal is 20 feet away from the cop, running at a rate of 5 feet per second. The cop is running at a rate of 6.5 feet per second. How many seconds will it take for the police officer to catch the criminal?
Distance = Rate * Time
Criminal:
5t + 20
Cop:
6.5t
We want to know when their distances are the same (cop catches criminal). So we set the equations equal to each other:
5t + 20 = 6.5t
To solve this equation, we type it in our search engine and we get:
t = 13.333 seconds
Distance = Rate * Time
Criminal:
5t + 20
Cop:
6.5t
We want to know when their distances are the same (cop catches criminal). So we set the equations equal to each other:
5t + 20 = 6.5t
To solve this equation, we type it in our search engine and we get:
t = 13.333 seconds