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prealgebra senior
Problem
Sunny runs at a steady rate, and Moonbeam runs times as fast, where is a number greater than 1. If Moonbeam gives Sunny a head start of meters, how many meters must Moonbeam run to overtake Sunny?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
Note that is a length, while is a dimensionless constant. Thus, and cannot be added, and and are not proper answers, since they both contain . Thus, we only concern ourselves with answers . If is a very, very large number, then Moonbeam will have to run just over meters to reach Sunny. Or, in the language of limits: , where is the distance Moonbeam needs to catch Sunny at the given rate ratio of . In option , when gets large, the distance gets large. Thus, is not a valid answer. In option , when gets large, the distance approaches , not as desired. This is not a valid answer. (In fact, this is the distance Sunny runs, which does approach as Moonbeam gets faster and faster.) In option , when gets large, the ratio gets very close to, but remains just a tiny bit over, the number . Thus, when you multiply it by , the ratio in option gets very close to, but remains just a tiny bit over, . Thus, the best option out of all the choices is .
Final answer
D