1963 AHSME Problems/Problem 20

Problem

Two men at points $R$ and $S$, $76$ miles apart, set out at the same time to walk towards each other. The man at $R$ walks uniformly at the rate of $4\tfrac{1}{2}$ miles per hour; the man at $S$ walks at the constant rate of $3\tfrac{1}{4}$ miles per hour for the first hour, at $3\tfrac{3}{4}$ miles per hour for the second hour, and so on, in arithmetic progression. If the men meet $x$ miles nearer $R$ than $S$ in an integral number of hours, then $x$ is:

$\textbf{(A)}\ 10 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 8 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 6 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 4 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 2$

Solution

First, find the number of hours it takes for the two to meet together. After $h$ hours, the person at $R$ walks $4.5h$ miles. In the same amount of time, the person at $S$ has been walking at $3.25+0.5(h-1)$ mph for the past hour, so the person walks $\frac{h(6.5+0.5(h-1))}{2}$ miles.

In order for both to meet, the sum of both of the distances walked must total $76$ miles, so \[4.5h + \frac{h(6+0.5h)}{2} = 76\] \[4.5h + 3h + 0.25h^2 = 76\] \[0.25h^2 + 7.5h - 76 = 0\] \[h^2 + 30h - 304 = 0\] \[(h + 38)(h - 8) = 0\] Since $h$ must be positive, $h = 8$. Because it takes $8$ hours to meet, the person from $R$ traveled $36$ miles while the person from $S$ traveled $40$ miles. Thus, they are $4$ miles closer to $R$ than $S$, so the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}}$.

See Also

1963 AHSC (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 19
Followed by
Problem 21
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
All AHSME Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png