A remote control car races straight down the street at 26 miles per hour. Two
hours later, a second remote control car races straight down the same street
at 52 miles per hour in pursuit of the first car. From the moment the first car
started, how many hours will it take the second car to catch up to the first?
What is a reasonable first step in solving this problem?

a. determine how many miles each car travels per minute

b. determining how long the street is

c. determining how far the first car is from the start line when the second car begins

d. determining how many cars are competing in the race

It will take 4 hours for the second car to catch up with the first car.

Step-by-step explanation:

The first step to solving this problem is determining the difference in speed between the first and second car - you can see that the second car (at 52mph) is twice as fast as the first (26mph) therefore it will take half the time to cover the same distance.

As Car 1 has a 2 hour head start, it will be 52 miles ahead after 2 hours.

In the next 2 hours, Car 1 will travel 52 miles - so 104 in total after 4 hours, and car 2 will travel 104 miles, meaning that it will have caught up after 4 hours.

A)

To calculate distance per minute, divide the miles per hour by 60 (as there's 60 minutes in an hour), so:

Car 1 = 26/60 = 0.43 miles per minute

Car 2 = 52/60 = 0.867 miles per minute

To check your calculation, Car 2 should be exactly twice as far

B) The street, as far as we know, is at least 104 miles

C) See calculation at the top - the first car is 52miles from the start line when the second car starts

D) 2 cars are competing in this race