At 12:00 noon two mississippi steamboats are 126 miles apart. at 6:00 p. m. they pass each other going in opposite directions. if one steamboat travels 9 miles per hour faster than the other, find the speed of both boats.

Let us solve the problem using an equation. Let x be the speed of one of the boats. The speed of the other boat will be x + 9. Both the boats have traveled for 6 hours, starting from 12:00 noon to 6:pm The distance they have traveled within 6 hours is 126 miles. The distance traveled by the first boat is x*6 = 6x Miles The distance traveled by the other boat is (x + 9) 6 = 6x + 54 Miles Thus, 6x + 6x + 54 = 126 Miles 12x = 126 - 54 12x = 72 x = 72/12 x = 6 So the speed of one of the boats is 6 miles per hour and the speed of the other boats is 6 + 9 = 15 miles per hour.