Story Math Question. Yes, it is homework.

[Malacandra]

@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.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

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.

[Apollyon]

@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.