Two planes leave wichita at noon. one plane flies east 30 mi/h faster than the other plane, which is flying west. at what time will they be 1200 mi apart?

You have to take note of the individual directions of the plane. Since one is heading east, and the other is heading west, the planes are heading at opposite directions. So, it means that their distance between each other would be equal to 1,200 miles which accounts for the sum of their individual distances. The equation is as follows:

Total Distance = Distance of slower plane + Distance of faster plane

1,200 miles = st + (30+s) (t)

where

s is the speed of the slower plane and t is the time. Since both are not given, the final answer would just be in terms of s.

1,200 = t (s + 30 + s)

t = 1200 / (30+2s)

t = 600 / (15+s)