The question states "how fast", not "how far", thus you need to give the acceleration at that moment.
At t=0, the boy and girl both haven't moved, so their positions are 0. The distance between them is also 0, as is their acceleration.
The boy's distance in meters is t*1.524, the girl's distance is t*0.3048. The distance between them is sqrt( b^2 * g^2 ). The velocity is the current distance minus the previous distance.
At t=1, b=1.524m, g=0.305, d=sqrt( g^2 * g^2 )=0.465, v=d-d^(t-1)=0.465m/s.
At t=5, b=7.62, g=1.524, d=11.613, and v=4.181m/s.
It’s the difference of distances apart over time. Aka how fast bf is moving away from gf, aka what the question is asking for.
Yes, if you want to be pedantic, velocity a vector with direction, so I guess you’d have to frame the question relative to either the boyfriend or girlfriend, but I don’t think the difference between speed and velocity is part of the question.
As you continue this you will see they travel at a constant speed apart from each other. The reason this is working is because you need to divide distance by time. Dividing by 1 second won’t change the value of the number after you subtract. If you notice you can do (t2-t0)/2s and also get the same answer.
My mistake, I didn’t check his math. I thought he was saying if you take distance apart at t(n) and subtract distance apart at t(n-1) you will get distance/sec.