Will and Grace are canoeing on a lake. Will rows at $50$ meters per minute and Grace rows at $30$ meters per minute. Will starts rowing at $2$ p.m. from the west end of the lake, and Grace starts rowing from the east end of the lake at $2{:}45$ p.m. If they always row directly towards each other, and the lake is $2800$ meters across from the west side of the lake to the east side, at what time will the two meet?
First, let's calculate the distance Will travels before grace even leaves.
Since he traveled for 45 minutes, we have
\((45 min)(50 m/min) = 2250 m\)
So when Grace starts, she and Will have
\((2800 m) – (2250 m) = 550 m\) to cover.
Let's let t be the amount of time it takes for the two to catch up to each other after Grace starts rowing.
We have the equation
\((50)(t) + (30)(t) = 550 \\ 80t = 550 \\ t = 550/80 = 6.875\)
This is approximately 6 minutes and 52 seconds.
So the clock time they meet is 6 min 52 sec after Grace starts.
Grace started at 2:45, so add 6 min 52 sec and the clock will read 2:51:52 pm when they meet
Thus, our final answer is \(2:51:52\)
Thanks! :)