Schools Mathematics Grand Challenge
PROBLEM 16:
One Saturday morning, Mary cycled from her home in Dublin to Maynooth,
and then cycled home along the same route that afternoon. The distance
from her home to Maynooth is exactly 10 miles and she cycled at a
constant speed of 10 miles per hour in both directions. On Sunday,
she decided to make the same cycling trip. However, due to a westerly
wind, she cycled at a constant speed of 5 miles per hour when going
from Dublin to Maynooth, and at a speed of 15 miles per hour on the
return trip from Maynooth to Dublin.
How much longer, in minutes, did the trip take on Sunday?
PROBLEM 17:
The following week, Mary cycled off in another direction on Saturday
morning. She left her home at 9 am and cycled 60 miles at a constant
speed of 7 miles per hour until she reached a guesthouse. She spent
Saturday night in the guesthouse and cycled back home on Sunday morning,
starting from the guesthouse at 9 am and cycling back home along the
same route as the day before at a constant speed of 13 miles per hour.
The solution of a well-known puzzle says that Mary will pass some point
along the route at exactly the same time on both Saturday and Sunday.
How many hours after 9 am will this happen?
TIP: When you've figured out the time, remember to check that Mary
will be the same distance from home at that time on both days.
PROBLEM 18:
In this problem, the notation A / B means A divided by B.
Jim recently bought a rather odd computer game, which works as follows.
First of all, Jim picks a positive whole number A. The computer then
must pick a positive whole number B which is strictly less than A (0 <
B < A) and so:
(A / B) + (30 / A) is the same as (B / A) + (30 / B).
If it is possible to pick such a number, the computer will do so and
the computer then wins. Otherwise, if the computer cannot find any such
whole number B, Jim wins the game.
Jim played the game 20 times, using all the whole numbers between 1 and
20 inclusive. The first time, he chose the number 1, the second time
the number 2, and so on up to the twentieth time, when he chose 20.
How many times did Jim win?
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