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Algebra Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Find the answer

Joe bikes xx miles East at 2020 mph to his friend’s house. He then turns South and bikes xx miles at 2020 mph to the store. Then, Joe turns East again and goes to his grandma’s house at 1414 mph. On this last leg, he has to carry flour he bought for her at the store. Her house is 22 more miles from the store than Joe’s friend’s house is from the store. Joe spends a total of 1 hour on the bike to get to his grandma’s house. If Joe then rides straight home in his grandma’s helicopter at 7878 mph, how many minutes does it take Joe to get home from his grandma’s house

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

Solution

1. Joe bikes xx miles East at 2020 mph to his friend’s house. The time taken for this leg of the journey is:
t1=x20 t_1 = \frac{x}{20}

2. Joe then turns South and bikes xx miles at 2020 mph to the store. The time taken for this leg of the journey is:
t2=x20 t_2 = \frac{x}{20}

3. Joe then turns East again and bikes to his grandma’s house at 1414 mph. The distance from the store to his grandma’s house is x+2x + 2 miles. The time taken for this leg of the journey is:
t3=x+214 t_3 = \frac{x + 2}{14}

4. Joe spends a total of 1 hour on the bike to get to his grandma’s house. Therefore, we have:
t1+t2+t3=1 t_1 + t_2 + t_3 = 1
Substituting the expressions for t1t_1, t2t_2, and t3t_3:
x20+x20+x+214=1 \frac{x}{20} + \frac{x}{20} + \frac{x + 2}{14} = 1
Simplifying the equation:
2x20+x+214=1 \frac{2x}{20} + \frac{x + 2}{14} = 1
x10+x+214=1 \frac{x}{10} + \frac{x + 2}{14} = 1
To solve for xx, find a common denominator (which is 70):
7x70+5(x+2)70=1 \frac{7x}{70} + \frac{5(x + 2)}{70} = 1
7x+5x+1070=1 \frac{7x + 5x + 10}{70} = 1
12x+1070=1 \frac{12x + 10}{70} = 1
12x+10=70 12x + 10 = 70
12x=60 12x = 60
x=5 x = 5

5. The distance from Joe’s grandma’s house to his home is the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs 55 miles and 1212 miles (since x=5x = 5 and x+2=7x + 2 = 7):
Distance=52+122=25+144=169=13 miles \text{Distance} = \sqrt{5^2 + 12^2} = \sqrt{25 + 144} = \sqrt{169} = 13 \text{ miles}

6. Joe rides straight home in his grandma’s helicopter at 7878 mph. The time taken to get home is:
t=13 miles78 mph t = \frac{13 \text{ miles}}{78 \text{ mph}}
Converting this time to minutes:
t=1378×60=13×6078=10 minutes t = \frac{13}{78} \times 60 = \frac{13 \times 60}{78} = 10 \text{ minutes}

The final answer is 10\boxed{10}

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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.