How to solve a tricky word problem

Question: In a 1 km race, A wins B by 40 meters and A wins C by 70 meters (same race). Assuming that they run at constant speed, the distance by which B wins C in the race can be expressed in the form x/y , where x and y are coprime positive integers. Find xy. Original question is titled Are you smarter than a fifth grader- Part 5 by Krishna Ar Only 14% of those who attempted it got it right.

I wrote up a great solution explaining how you can approach such a problem, and motivated how to think about such questions. I would encourage you to read it, and then practice on a similar problem Only 28% who attempted it got it right.

#Algebra

Easy Math Editor

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Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

dis is a simple one infact

Nithin Nithu - 6 years, 2 months ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$