A traveler at the Winchester Airport had lots of time on her hands between flights, so she decided to conduct an experiment on one of the moving walkways.
She found she could walk the length of the walkway,
moving in its forward direction, in 1 minute.
Walking at the same rate against the forward
direction of the walkway, it took her 3 minutes to
cover the same distance.
How long would it take her to cover one length of the
walkway if the walkway were to stop??
Solution:
The answer is 90 seconds.
In 1 minute, the traveler can walk 1 length in the
forward direction but only one-third of a length in
the backward direction.
Factoring out the effects of the walkway's speed,
we find that in 1 minute she can walk
(1 + 1/3) / 2 = 2/3 of a length in one minute.
This means the woman can walk one length of the
stationary walkway in 3/2 x 60 = 90 seconds.
Correctly solved by:
| 1. Tom Marino | Winchester, VA |
| 2. Bob Hearn | Winchester, VA |
| 3. Jon Pence | Winchester, VA |