Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

1. Detective Podberezyakov is pursuing Maksim Detochkin (each driving their own car). At the beginning, both were driving on the highway at a speed of 60 km/h, with Podberezyakov lagging behind Detochkin by 2 km. Upon entering the city, each of them reduced their speed to 40 km/h, and upon exiting the city, finding themselves on a good highway, each increased their speed to 70 km/h. When the highway ended, at the border with a dirt road, each had to reduce their speed to 30 km/h again. What was the distance between them on the dirt road?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Answer: 1 km.

Solution: At the moment Detochkin entered the city, Podberezyakov was 2 km behind him. Podberezyakov covered this distance in 2/60 hours, during which time Detochkin traveled 26040\frac{2}{60} \cdot 40 km. That is, the distance was multiplied by 40/60. Similarly, when exiting the city and transitioning to the dirt road, the distance is multiplied by 70/40 and then by 30/70. In the end, 2×4060×7040×3070=12 \times \frac{40}{60} \times \frac{70}{40} \times \frac{30}{70}=1 km.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.