SpeedRacer 1 #1 January 26, 2004 This is driving me nuts. Normally I'm good at these things, but I'm experiencing a brainlock and I just don't know how to approach this. How do you go about figuring this one out: Each day a man's wife meets him at the railroad station and drives him home. One day he arrives at the station an hour early and begins to walk home along the road his wife always takes. She meets him en route and takes him the rest of the way home. Had he waited at the station, she would have picked him up exactly on time. As it turned out, he reached his home twenty minutes early. How long did the man walk? Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elfanie 0 #2 January 26, 2004 Quote Each day a man's wife meets him at the railroad station and drives him home. One day he arrives at the station an hour early and begins to walk home along the road his wife always takes. She meets him en route and takes him the rest of the way home. Had he waited at the station, she would have picked him up exactly on time. As it turned out, he reached his home twenty minutes early. How long did the man walk? didn't he walk the distance she would normally drive in 10 minutes? (ie. a 10 minute drive from the station) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bodyflight.Net 0 #3 January 26, 2004 40 minutes?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
batbex 0 #4 January 26, 2004 Might just be being silly - but surely you need more information all you know is that during a 40 minute period a man travelled an unspecified total distance, he walked an unspecified distance at an unspecified speed, he was driven an unspecified distance at an unspecified speed and then asked how long he walked for - thats an equation with about 5 variables! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #5 January 26, 2004 This may be a semantic puzzle. "He walked all the way until she picked him up." That's how "long" he walked. The question did not ask how "far." It's like asking how many people are dead in a cemetery. The answer is, "All of them." My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McG 0 #6 January 26, 2004 Well if you just ask how long did he walk, so: 10 minutes I guess. The distance is a bit more difficult thing... ***>If God meant for man to fly, He´d have given him much more money. McG, DZ EFVA dictator Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #7 January 26, 2004 no, there is an answer (in minutes) to this. I looked it up, I just can't figure how it was reached. And the answer cannot be forty minutes: Most days the man takes x minutes to make it home. Today it took him x + 40 minutes because he had to walk part of the way. But he cannot have walked for forty minutes and then gotten a ride the rest of the way and had it still take x minutes to get home, because by walking part of the way he would have reduced the distance between himself and his home. So from the time he got picked up, it would take him less than x minutes to get home. So he must have been walking for longer than forty minutes. Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #8 January 26, 2004 Okay. Hypo. It takes ten minutes to drive from station to home. It takes an hour to walk from station to home. Wife always picks him up ten minutes after he exits the train. Drives back. So, if he normally exits train at 5:00, and she picks him up at 5:10, he arrives home at 5:20. Today, he arrives at 4:00, walks for one hour. Wife leaves at 5:00 to take him from the sidewalk to the driveway. He gets home at 5:00. Normally it would have been 5:20. he saved twenty minutes. Does that work? My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bodyflight.Net 0 #9 January 26, 2004 Quoteno, there is an answer (in minutes) to this. I looked it up, I just can't figure how it was reached. And the answer cannot be forty minutes: Most days the man takes x minutes to make it home. Today it took him x + 40 minutes because he had to walk part of the way. But he cannot have walked for forty minutes and then gotten a ride the rest of the way and had it still take x minutes to get home, because by walking part of the way he would have reduced the distance between himself and his home. So from the time he got picked up, it would take him less than x minutes to get home. So he must have been walking for longer than forty minutes. X=20 minutes (hence being home 20 min earlier than usual) x(20)+ y(60) amount of time arrived early 20+60=80 she met him 1/2 way 80/2=40 min. I'm definitely not a math genious... but that what I was thinking.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #10 January 26, 2004 um, no. answer has to be in How many minutes he spent walking. (also the lag time between exiting the train & getting picked up on a normal day is irrelevant. we might as well assume that on a normal day he gets picked up as soon as he exits the train) Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #11 January 26, 2004 (-20)-----X-----{}------Y----------(-60) 2x=20 y=(-60-(-20)) - (x-(-20)) =20-x y=30 Checking: -60 + 30 +10 = -20"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
labrys 0 #12 January 26, 2004 Quote(-20)-----X-----{}------Y----------(-60) 2x=20 Where did the 2x=20 come from?Owned by Remi #? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #13 January 26, 2004 30 minutes walking?! So. Let's see. We know it took him forty minutes longer than normal to get home. If he spent thirty of those minutes walking towards his home, (thereby decreasing the distance his wife would have to drive him), then how could it be that from the moment she picked him up on the road, it still took him his usual full-distance time, plus an extra ten minutes to get home? Logically the answer must be that he walked for longer than forty minutes, but I don't know how to set up the equation for that. Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pds 0 #14 January 26, 2004 Quote she met him 1/2 way your error is here. there is no mention at which point along the way she met him so your conclusion is not, well, err, conclusive.namaste, motherfucker. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #15 January 26, 2004 Quote30 minutes walking?! So. Let's see. We know it took him forty minutes longer than normal to get home. If he spent thirty of those minutes walking towards his home, (thereby decreasing the distance his wife would have to drive him), then how could it be that from the moment she picked him up on the road, it still took him his usual full-distance time, plus an extra ten minutes to get home? Logically the answer must be that he walked for longer than forty minutes, but I don't know how to set up the equation for that. Editing: So, 2x results in a difference of -20. Y (the time he walked) is (-60 minus -20) minus (x minus -20) I'm _pretty_ sure I have this right."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vamp 0 #16 January 26, 2004 QuoteThis is driving me nuts. Normally I'm good at these things, but I'm experiencing a brainlock and I just don't know how to approach this. How do you go about figuring this one out: Er...by going to a forum and making everyone else now be consumed by your brainteaser? So not fair. All I know is the answer is 50 minutes. Don't know how. Don't know why. But that's the answer. I did my research. That is all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
labrys 0 #17 January 26, 2004 I still don't see where how you came up with "2x=20" It looks to me like you just dropped "y" from your first equation, then substitued the result back in to solve for "y" a second time.Owned by Remi #? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bmcd308 0 #18 January 26, 2004 >>Today it took him x + 40 minutes << I think it took him x-20 minutes today. He arrived home 20 minutes earlier than normal. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mcneill79 0 #19 January 26, 2004 Definition of variables: Tt = Normal time to get home Tw = Amount of time he walked Td = Amount of he was in the car First look at the time the the wife traveled: She traveled 2*Td She also traveled Tt+Tt-20 2Td= 2Tt-20 Td = Tt-10 Now lets look at the time he spent traveling He traveled Tw+Td He also traveled 60 + Tt-20 Tw+Td = Tt+40 Tw+Tt-10 = Tt+40 Tw = 50 minutes I think this makes sense Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites kallend 2,112 #20 January 26, 2004 QuoteThis is driving me nuts. Normally I'm good at these things, but I'm experiencing a brainlock and I just don't know how to approach this. How do you go about figuring this one out: Each day a man's wife meets him at the railroad station and drives him home. One day he arrives at the station an hour early and begins to walk home along the road his wife always takes. She meets him en route and takes him the rest of the way home. Had he waited at the station, she would have picked him up exactly on time. As it turned out, he reached his home twenty minutes early. How long did the man walk? Since he AND HIS WIFE saved 20 minutes, it follows that the wife saved 10 minutes on the outbound trip and 10 minutes on the return trip. So the time at which she met him was 10 minutes earlier than she would normally have been at the station. Since he started walking 60 minutes before she would have met him at the station, she met him after he had been walking (60 - 10) minutes = 50 minutes after he left the station. QED.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites flighty 0 #21 January 26, 2004 the answer is 50 minutes ~Cindy~ Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari? Spelling and grammar errors are left as an exercise for the reader. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites SpeedRacer 1 #22 January 26, 2004 thank you, kallend! Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites labrys 0 #23 January 26, 2004 but he left sixty minues earlyOwned by Remi #? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites flighty 0 #24 January 26, 2004 Oh, you beat me to the punch with the explination. I've got to learn to type faster. ~Cindy~ Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari? Spelling and grammar errors are left as an exercise for the reader. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites rehmwa 2 #25 January 26, 2004 nevermind - ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Prev 1 2 Next Page 1 of 2 Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
kallend 2,112 #20 January 26, 2004 QuoteThis is driving me nuts. Normally I'm good at these things, but I'm experiencing a brainlock and I just don't know how to approach this. How do you go about figuring this one out: Each day a man's wife meets him at the railroad station and drives him home. One day he arrives at the station an hour early and begins to walk home along the road his wife always takes. She meets him en route and takes him the rest of the way home. Had he waited at the station, she would have picked him up exactly on time. As it turned out, he reached his home twenty minutes early. How long did the man walk? Since he AND HIS WIFE saved 20 minutes, it follows that the wife saved 10 minutes on the outbound trip and 10 minutes on the return trip. So the time at which she met him was 10 minutes earlier than she would normally have been at the station. Since he started walking 60 minutes before she would have met him at the station, she met him after he had been walking (60 - 10) minutes = 50 minutes after he left the station. QED.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flighty 0 #21 January 26, 2004 the answer is 50 minutes ~Cindy~ Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari? Spelling and grammar errors are left as an exercise for the reader. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #22 January 26, 2004 thank you, kallend! Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
labrys 0 #23 January 26, 2004 but he left sixty minues earlyOwned by Remi #? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flighty 0 #24 January 26, 2004 Oh, you beat me to the punch with the explination. I've got to learn to type faster. ~Cindy~ Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari? Spelling and grammar errors are left as an exercise for the reader. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rehmwa 2 #25 January 26, 2004 nevermind - ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
