Two planes A and B can each fly through still air at 550 mph. The distance from Paris to Los Angeles is 5000 miles. Wind blows f

Question

11 days ago

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Two planes A and B can each fly through still air at 550 mph. The distance from Paris to Los Angeles is 5000 miles. Wind blows f

rom Los Angeles towards Paris at a speed of 100 mph. Plane A leaves Paris at noon flying towards Los Angeles. Plane B departs Los Angeles 1 hour later to fly to Paris. How far from Los Angeles are the two planes when they pass each other?

Mathematics

1 answer:

PIT_PIT [3.9K] · Answer 1 · 2026-02-21T23:58:19+03:00

Answer:2688.63 miles

Step-by-step explanation:

Given

The distance from Paris to Los Angeles $d=5000 miles$

Wind traveling at 100 mph from Los Angeles to Paris

The velocity of the plane through still air is $v=550 mph$

Relative velocity of Plane A is $v_a=550-100 =450 mph$ since Plane A is heading against the wind

Relative velocity of Plane B is $v_b=550+100=650 mph$

Plane A departs at noon

Distance covered by Plane A in 1 hour $=450\times 1=450 miles$

The total separation distance between the planes is $5000-450=4550 miles$

Assuming they meet after t hours

Distance covered by Plane B in that time frame $=v_b\times t=650\times t$

Distance traveled by Plane A in t hours is $=v_a\times t=450 t$

The total distance equals 4550 miles

$4550=650t+450t$

$t=\frac{4550}{1100}$

$t=4.13 hr$

Distance traveled by B is $=650\times 4.136=2688.63 miles$

thus, they meet at a point 2688.63 miles away from Los Angeles.