An Ostrich is being chased by a cheetah. the ostrich is running at 44 feet per second and the cheetah is running at 110 feet per second. if the two started at the same place and the ostrich got a 60 second head start, how many seconds will it be before the cheetah catches it
In 60 seconds, the ostrich will run 60*44 = 2640 ft
And let S be the number of seconds that it will take the cheetah to catch the ostrich
So....the distance that the ostrich will cover before being caught is 2640 + 44S
So....we need to solve this
110S = 2640 + 44S subtract 44S from both sides
66S = 2640 divide both sides by 66
S = 40 seconds
The ostrich gets a 44f/s x 60s = 2640 ft head start
the cheetah is running 110 - 44 66 f/s faster
to cover the 2640 ft the cheetah will need 2640 ft/66f/s = 40 seconds to catch the ostrich