Three friends, A, B and C have houses along a straight road,

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Three friends, A, B and C have houses along a straight road, in that order. If all three want to meet up at one of their houses, what is the minimum combined distance they need to travel?

(1) The distance between A's house and B's house is 2 miles.
(2) The distance between A's house and C's house is 8 miles

OA B

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by Ian Stewart » Sat Jul 06, 2019 4:08 am

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They'll travel the minimum combined distance if they meet in the middle house, B. Then person B won't travel at all, and persons A and C will travel, combined, the total distance between house A and house C (if instead they meet at house A or C, one person travels the total distance from A to C, but B also travels an additional distance, so you don't get the minimum total distance in that case). So Statement 2 tells us how far they'll travel combined, and Statement 1 does not, and the answer is B.
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