2004 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 23

Revision as of 12:11, 12 July 2021 by Ghostyc (talk | contribs) (Problem)

Problem

Tess runs counterclockwise around rectangular block $JKLM$. She lives at corner $J$. Which graph could represent her straight-line distance from home?

[asy] unitsize(5mm); pair J=(-3,2); pair K=(-3,-2); pair L=(3,-2); pair M=(3,2);  draw(J--K--L--M--cycle); label("$J$",J,NW); label("$K$",K,SW); label("$L$",L,SE); label("$M$",M,NE); [/asy]

[asy] size(80);defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); //A draw((16,0)--origin--(0,16)); draw(origin--(15,15)); label("time", (8,0), S); label(rotate(90)*"distance", (0,8), W); [/asy] size(80);defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); //B draw((16,0)--origin--(0,16)); draw((0,6)--(1,6)--(1,12)--(2,12)--(2,11)--(3,11)--(3,1)--(12,1)--(12,0)); label("time", (8,0), S); label(rotate(90)*"distance", (0,8), W); </asy> size(80);defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); //C draw((16,0)--origin--(0,16)); draw(origin--(2.7,8)--(3,9)^^(11,9)--(14,0)); draw(Arc((4,9), 1, 0, 180)); draw(Arc((10,9), 1, 0, 180)); draw(Arc((7,9), 2, 180,360)); label("time", (8,0), S); label(rotate(90)*"distance", (0,8), W); </asy> size(80);defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); //D draw((16,0)--origin--(0,16)); draw(origin--(2,6)--(7,14)--(10,12)--(14,0)); label("time", (8,0), S); label(rotate(90)*"distance", (0,8), W); </asy> size(80);defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); //E draw((16,0)--origin--(0,16)); draw(origin--(3,6)--(7,6)--(10,12)--(14,12)); label("time", (8,0), S); label(rotate(90)*"distance", (0,8), W); </asy>

Solution

For her distance to be represented as a constant horizontal line, Tess would have to be running in a circular shape with her home as the center. Since she is running around a rectangle, this is not possible, ruling out $B$ and $E$ with straight lines. Because $JL$ is the diagonal of the rectangle, and $L$ is at the middle distance around the perimeter, her maximum distance should be in the middle of her journey. The maximum in $A$ is at the end, and $C$ has two maximums, ruling both out. Thus the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}}$.

See Also

2004 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 22
Followed by
Problem 24
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
All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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