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Algebra Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Ukraine

Two cyclists left towns AA and BB, went towards one another with the speeds v1v_1 and v2v_2, where v1v2v_1 \ge v_2, and met for the first time after 1 hour. After having met, they both continued their journeys without stopping until their destination town. If one of them reached his/her final point, he/she turned around and went in the opposite direction.
How much time after their first meeting did their second meeting take place?

Figure 1
Fig. 22

Solution

Until the first meeting point, the first cyclist travelled the distance S1=v1S_1 = v_1, while the second cyclist travelled S2=v2S_2 = v_2. Therefore, the distance between towns AA and BB equals v1+v2v_1 + v_2. There are two possible cases.

Case 1. Before their second meeting, both cyclists reached their destination town, and turned around. Suppose their second meeting occurred at the distance S3S_3 from town BB and time t2t_2 later after the first meeting (fig. 22). Then, we get the equations
Figure 2
Fig. 23
v2+S3=v1t2 and v1+(v1+v2S3)=v2t2. v_2 + S_3 = v_1 t_2 \text{ and } v_1 + (v_1 + v_2 - S_3) = v_2 t_2.
By adding these equations, we obtain
v2+S3+2v1+v2S3=(v2+v1)t2t2=2. v_2 + S_3 + 2v_1 + v_2 - S_3 = (v_2 + v_1)t_2 \Rightarrow t_2 = 2.

Case 2. Before their second meeting, the first cyclist reached destination town BB, turned around and reached the second cyclist before he/she reached town AA (fig. 23). Suppose their second meeting occurred at the distance S3S_3 from town BB and time t2t_2 later after the first meeting (fig. 4). Then, we get the equations
S3v2=v2t2 and v2+S3=v1t2. S_3 - v_2 = v_2 t_2 \text{ and } v_2 + S_3 = v_1 t_2.
Taking the difference of these equations, we obtain
v2+S3+v2S3=(v1v2)t2t2=2v2v1v2. v_2 + S_3 + v_2 - S_3 = (v_1 - v_2)t_2 \Rightarrow t_2 = \frac{2v_2}{v_1 - v_2}.

Now, the only thing left is to figure out which of the two cases occurs for which v1,v2v_1, v_2. Case 1 happens when the first cyclist reaches AA later than the second cyclist, i.e. v2+v2+v1v1>v1v22v22+v1v2>v12\frac{v_2+v_2+v_1}{v_1} > \frac{v_1}{v_2} \Rightarrow 2v_2^2 + v_1v_2 > v_1^2. Let us denote x=v1v2x = \frac{v_1}{v_2}, then it must satisfy the equation
x2x2<0(x+1)(x2)<0x<2, i.e. v1<2v2. x^2 - x - 2 < 0 \Rightarrow (x+1)(x-2) < 0 \Rightarrow x < 2, \text{ i.e. } v_1 < 2v_2.

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