Passage VI

Three cars were employed in a study of relative motion. Cars X and Y moved along an east-west highway. Car Z was always parked beside the highway between Cars X and Y (see Figure 1; figure not to scale).

During each trial, a passenger in each of the 3 cars used a radar gun to measure the velocities, in m/sec, of the other 2 cars. If 2 cars got farther apart, the velocity of each car, as measured from the other car, would be positive. If 2 cars got closer together, the velocity of each car, as measured from the other car, would be negative.

Table 1 lists the symbols used to represent the measured velocities. Table 2 gives the results of various trials.