# Story Math Question. Yes, it is homework.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-math-question-yes-it-is-homework/555346>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 28, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-math-question-yes-it-is-homework/555346 "2010-09-28T13:58:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-math-question-yes-it-is-homework/555346/21 "2010-09-28T17:06:38Z")

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> [@Peter\_Morris](#):
>
> > [@Shirley\_Ujest](#):
> >
> > Last night three of us could not solve a story question in our son’s 7th grade math book.
> > 
> > Person A leaves home at 9am and he is walking 4 mph.
> > 
> > Person B leaves home a half hour later in the same direction running 8.5 mph.
> > 
> > How long will it take for B to catch A?
> 
> B can never catch A. It’s been proved.
> 
> At 9:30, when B sets out, A has walked 2 miles.  
> It will take 0.23529 hours for B to reach that point.  
> However, in that time, A has walked another 0.94196 miles.  
> To run that extra distance will take B another 0.11082 hours.  
> But in that time, A will have walked another 0.22163 miles.  
> And so on. The sequence never converges, so A and B never meet.

No, I think if you want to trot out old classics, you have to avoid introducing flat-out untruths. 😃

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-math-question-yes-it-is-homework/555346/22 "2010-09-28T17:13:58Z")

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I think the real question is how long it will take the police to arrive when Person A reports that his neighbor is stalking him.

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**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-math-question-yes-it-is-homework/555346/23 "2010-09-28T20:23:41Z")

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> [@Peter\_Morris](#):
>
> And so on. The sequence never converges, so A and B never meet.

> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#):
>
> My husband and his boss ( an engineer with 30 years experience)…

Oh… engineers… that’s all right then… the two people can get close enough for all practical purposes. 🙂

I too got 26’ 40" as the answer for the catch up time… and am ashamed to say that Excel was involved.

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