Q) Two people are 16 km apart on a straight road. They start walking at the same time. If they walk towards each other with different speeds, they will meet in 2 hours. Had they walked in the same direction with same speeds as before, they would have met in 8 hours. Find their walking speeds.

Ans: Let their speeds x and y kmph.

Walking in same direction: x  –  y = = 8………….(i)

Similarly, when they walk in opposite directions, x + y = = 2.

by solving equations (i) and (ii), we get:

x = 5 and y = 3

Therefore the walking speeds are 5 km/hr and 3 km/hr.