2011 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 12

Problem

Keiko walks once around a track at exactly the same constant speed every day. The sides of the track are straight, and the ends are semicircles. The track has a width of $6$ meters, and it takes her $36$ seconds longer to walk around the outside edge of the track than around the inside edge. What is Keiko's speed in meters per second?

$\textbf{(A)}\ \frac{\pi}{3} \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{2\pi}{3} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \pi \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{4\pi}{3} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{5\pi}{3}$

Solution

Solution 1

Let $s$ be Keiko's speed in meters per second, $a$ be the length of the straight parts of the track, $b$ be the radius of the smaller circles, and $b+6$ be the radius of the larger circles. The length of the inner edge will be $2a+2b \pi$ and the length of the outer edge will be $2a+2\pi (b+6).$ Since it takes $36$ seconds longer for Keiko to walk on the outer edge,

$\begin{align*} \frac{2a+2b \pi}{s} + 36 &= \frac{2a+2\pi (b+6)}{s}\\ 2a+2b\pi +36s &= 2a+2b\pi +12\pi\\ 36s&=12\pi\\ s&=\boxed{\textbf{(A)} \frac{\pi}{3}} \end{align*}$

Solution 2

It is basically the same as Solution 1 except you can completely disregard the straight edges of the track since it will take Keiko the same time to walk that length. Instead, think of it has just a circular track $6$ meters in width. If the diameter of the smaller circle were $r,$ then the length of the smaller circle would be $r \pi$ and the length of the larger circle would be $(r+12) \pi.$ Since it still takes $36$ seconds longer,

$\begin{align*} \frac{r \pi}{s} + 36 &= \frac{(r+12)\pi}{s}\\ r \pi + 36s &= r \pi + 12 \pi\\ s&=\boxed{\textbf{(A)} \frac{\pi}{3}} \end{align*}$

2011 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 11	Followed by Problem 13
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2011 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 12

Contents

Problem

Solution

Solution 1

Solution 2

See Also