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Algebra Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it Ukraine

The road between AA and BB is 1515 km long, firstly the road goes up, then it is flat, and lastly it goes down. It is known that every part is no less than 11 km. The path made by a pedestrian takes exactly 33 hours. What are the minimum and the maximum amount of time that is taken by the path in opposite direction, if it is known that the speed of pedestrian while going up is 44 km per hour, while going straight is 55 per hour and is 66 per hour while going down?

(Rubliov Bogdan)

Solution

Mark the up, flat and down parts on the way from AA to BB as xx, yy, zz respectively. Then:
x+y+z=15,x4+y5+z6=3, 1x,y,z13. x + y + z = 15, \frac{x}{4} + \frac{y}{5} + \frac{z}{6} = 3,\ 1 \le x, y, z \le 13.
From the first equation: y=15xzy = 15 - x - z, substitute it into the second equation:
x4+15zx5+z6=3x4x5=z5z6x20=z30z=32x. \frac{x}{4} + \frac{15-z-x}{5} + \frac{z}{6} = 3 \Leftrightarrow \frac{x}{4} - \frac{x}{5} = \frac{z}{5} - \frac{z}{6} \Leftrightarrow \frac{x}{20} = \frac{z}{30} \Leftrightarrow z = \frac{3}{2}x.
Then y=15xz=15x32x=1552x. \text{Then } y = 15 - x - z = 15 - x - \frac{3}{2}x = 15 - \frac{5}{2}x.
So the required time is:
t=x6+y5+z4=x6+3x2+38x=3+x24. t = \frac{x}{6} + \frac{y}{5} + \frac{z}{4} = \frac{x}{6} + 3 - \frac{x}{2} + \frac{3}{8}x = 3 + \frac{x}{24}.

The maximum (the minimum) tt can be in case of xx is maximum (minimum).
Put down the limitation for xx, which follow from the condition of the problem:
1x13, 1z=32x1323x263, 1y=1552x1345x285. 1 \le x \le 13,\ 1 \le z = \frac{3}{2}x \le 13 \Leftrightarrow \frac{2}{3} \le x \le \frac{26}{3},\ 1 \le y = 15 - \frac{5}{2}x \le 13 \Leftrightarrow \frac{4}{5} \le x \le \frac{28}{5}.
Since all conditions have to be fulfilled simultaneously, we have such limitation for xx:
1x285. 1 \le x \le \frac{28}{5}.
If x=1x=1, then z=32z = \frac{3}{2} and y=252y = \frac{25}{2}. If x=285x = \frac{28}{5}, then z=425z = \frac{42}{5} and y=1y = 1.

t=x6+y5+z4=x6+3x2+38x=3+x24. t = \frac{x}{6} + \frac{y}{5} + \frac{z}{4} = \frac{x}{6} + 3 - \frac{x}{2} + \frac{3}{8}x = 3 + \frac{x}{24}.

The maximum (the minimum) tt can be in case of xx is maximum (minimum).
Put down the limitation for xx, which follow from the condition of the problem:

tmax=3+124285=3+730=9730, tmin=3+1241=7324. t_{\max} = 3 + \frac{1}{24} \cdot \frac{28}{5} = 3 + \frac{7}{30} = \frac{97}{30},\ t_{\min} = 3 + \frac{1}{24} \cdot 1 = \frac{73}{24}.

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