Skip to main content
OlympiadHQ

Browse · MATH

Print

jmc

prealgebra senior

Problem

An elephant and a lion are currently 1 mile apart. The elephant runs directly away from the lion at 19 miles per hour, while the lion runs directly towards the elephant at 24 miles per hour. How many minutes will it take for the lion to catch the elephant?
Solution
Every hour, the lion runs 24 miles while the elephant runs 19. Thus, the distance between the two animals closes at a rate of 5 miles every hour. The lion catches the elephant after this distance has closed 1 mile, which takes hours to do, or minutes.
Final answer
12