How Many?

[smartypants10101]

if it took an average man 15 mins to walk 1 mile , then he stopped for a break for 30 seconds then walked half a mile back then stopped for a further 30 seconds and returned to the end point of his original journey , how long has it took him to walk the half mile back ?

[Ryzen]

smarty...did you attend the Dianne Abbot school of reasoning?

[smartypants10101]

u are all presuming he took only 30 secs in his breaks , remember he took 2 of those, so after his last one, how long did it take the man to walk the half mile back to the original destination he was going to, (remember this is the end of the mile not his return back to the halfway point) this is the point you all keep missing!

[jim360]

(a) you still haven't linked to the original source for this question.

(b) How the hell else are we going to interpret "he stopped for a break for 30 seconds" but as "he had a 30-second long break"?!

[nescio]

Jim,
did you crash your car swerving to avoid the shaggy dog?

[chelle7272]

'we' are not presuming anything we read your post!

//how long did it take the man to walk the half mile back //

Yes to walk, so we are only counting the time when he is walking, not stopped

[bhg481]

At the time he stops for his second break he is half a mile from his starting point AND half a mile from his original destination. If he walks at 15mph it will take him 7.5 mins to walk to either of those places.

[Canary42]

Your original question is both lacking sufficient data, and ambiguous. You now seem to be specifying a different "half a mile back" from the one referred to in the original question, and you give no indication of his walking speed after the first mile. Go back to school.

[bednobs]

lol bhg now you are getting confused, if you walk at 15mph (how could you do that anyway) it'd take by my shaky calculations a lot less

[bhg481]

bednobs - yes, brain getting addled. 15mph was smarty's first suggestion, 4mph gives us 7.5 mins.

[naomi24]

I don't think he walked at all. I think he got the bus.

[bhg481]

It would have saved us all a lot of bother if he had, naomi.

[jim360]

This question is so confusing I'm terrified this is actually my alternative account.

[Mamyalynne]

Was he going to St Ives?

[bhg481]

jim - it's a good job this question wasn't on your degree exam paper.

[bednobs]

can someone do me a favour seperate to this questio, can anyone work out for me how long it would actually take you to go 1/2 a mile if you were travelling at 15mph. I make 4 mins, but cant sense check it ? This has nothing to do with the answet to this q by the way

[nescio]

Jim,
I think I know what is going on - he has half integral spin, so after completing two half turns, he is now inverted, or inside out, or something, hence the confusion :-)

[smartypants10101]

you see now where it gets confusing. All along i have said he had two 30 sec breaks but jims last comment part a and b says only 30 secs i have pasted the words to show u its not me ..
Avatar Image jim360
Mark as Best Answer
(a) you still haven't linked to the original source for this question.

(b) How the hell else are we going to interpret "he stopped for a break for 30 seconds" but as "he had a 30-second long break"?!

[smartypants10101]

jims part (b) shows you all where you are getting mixed up

[bhg481]

bednobs - halk=f a mile is 1/30 15 miles, so it wouls take him 1/30 of an hour = 2 mins.

[smartypants10101]

he only did one half turn nescio the 2nd half turn you are referring to is the continuation of his original journey he only come back on himself the once , you see where i am coming from now .