Answer to October 1, 2001 Problem of the Week

The first of seven cross country runners, each bearing a number from 1 to 7, crossed the tape at 12:01 and the others at intervals of 1 minute apart (no ties).

If "time" stands for the number of minutes after 12:00, determine the order in which the runners finished.

(A) The highest total of runner and time (13) occurs just once.

(B) The lowest total of runner and time (4) occurs just once.

(C) The total 9 (of runner and time) occurs 3 times.

(D) Just four runners have numbers larger than their times.

(E) The winner's number exceeds that of the second place finisher.

Solution to the Problem:

The answer is:
1st place: runner #6 at 12:01
2nd place: runner #3 at 12:02
3rd place: runner #1 at 12:03
4th place: runner #5 at 12:04
5th place: runner #4 at 12:05
6th place: runner #7 at 12:06
7th place: runner #2 at 12:07

Runner Number	Time	Clues Used
1	3	B
2	7	C
3	2	D, E
4	5	C
5	4	C, E
6	1	D, E
7	6	A, E

Correctly solved by:

1. Tony Wu	Fort Collins, Colorado
2. Richard K. Johnson	La Jolla, California
3. Sarah McNeil	San Jose, California
4. Renata Sommerville	Austin, Texas
5. Diana Xing	Fort Collins, Colorado
6. Geoff Keith	Santa Monica, California
7. Ashley Maignan	Columbus, Georgia
8. Ellen Sankovich	Winchester, Virginia
9. Elizabeth Emmart	Winchester, Virginia

October 1, 2001 Problem of the Month

Correctly solved by:

October 1, 2001
Problem of the Month