October 2021
Problem of the Month

Travel Problem
by Lewis Carroll

Two travellers spend 6 hours walking along a level road, then up a hill, and then back home.
Their pace on the level road was 4 mph, up the hill was 3 mph, and down the hill was 6 mph.

Determine the total distance that they walked.

They walked a total of 24 miles.

Let x = distance walked on level ground one-way.
Let y= distanced walked up hill one-way.
Then set up an equation for the time that it took for the whole trip:


So, in six hours, they walked 12 miles out and 12 miles back, for a total of 24 miles.

Correctly solved by:

1. Colin (Yowie) Bowey	Beechworth, Victoria, Australia
2. Veena Mg	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
3. Dr. Hari Kishan	D.N. College, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India
4. Brijesh Dave	Mumbai City, Maharashtra, India
5. K. M. Thomas	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
6. Ivy Joseph	Pune, Maharashtra, India
7. Paige Gregory	Mountain View High School, Mountain View, Wyoming
8. Kelly Stubblefield	Mobile, Alabama

Send any comments or questions to: David Pleacher