you are biking at a speed of 18 miles per hour, you are 3 miles behind you friend who is biking at speed of 12 miles an hour. Write and solve an equation to find how long it takes you to for you to catch up to your friend.

Hey there!

Let's keep this simple

h = hours

My speed = 18 h

Friend's speed = 12 h

You are three miles behind your friend. Which states, if you subtract 3 to your rate it would be equal to your friend's rate.

My speed - 3 = friend speed

18h - 3 = 12h

Subtract 18h on both sides

-3 = - 6h

dividing by - 6 on both sides

-3/-6 = h

1/2 = h

0.5 hours

30 minutes

Cheers!