Problem 1. Three runners are running
a ten-mile race. Runner 1 runs a mile
in six minutes. Runner 2 runs a mile in
seven minutes. Runner 3 runs a mile in
ten minutes. After five miles, Runner 1
and Runner 2 sit down to have lunch.
Runner 1 spends fifteen minutes eating
her lunch. Runner 2 spends ten minutes
eating her lunch. Runner 3 keeps
running. Who wins the race?
A lot of time has passed since I took a math class. I
had to sit and think. It took me ten minutes, but in
the end I did get Problem 1. (Runner 1 wins .)
After I did Problem 1, I was feeling proud of
myself. Then I looked at the kids sitting next to
me. They had finished lots of problems in the time
it had taken me to do one. One of them was on
Problem 10. One was on Problem 15.