Stephen, there is a thinner/longer spring (k1) inside of a wider/shorter spring (k2) attached to a wall on the right.
I am going to try what you both have suggested to do and get back, thanks a million.
Homework Statement
A 5000-kg freight car rolls along rails with negligible friction. The car is brought to rest by a combination of two coiled springs as illustrated in the figure below. Both springs are described by Hooke's law and have spring constants with k1 = 1500 N/m and k2 = 3700 N/m...