Each day a man meets his wife at the train station after

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Each day a man meets his wife at the train station after work, and then she drives him home. She always arrives exactly on time to pick him up. One day he catches an earlier train and arrives at the station an hour early. He immediately begins walking home along the same route the wife drives. Eventually his wife sees him on her way to the station and drives him the rest of the way home. When they arrive home the man notices that they arrived 20 minutes earlier than usual. How much time did the man spend walking?

A. 45 minutes
B. 50 minutes
C. 40 minutes
D. 55 minutes
E. 35 minutes
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:34 am
BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Each day a man meets his wife at the train station after work, and then she drives him home. She always arrives exactly on time to pick him up. One day he catches an earlier train and arrives at the station an hour early. He immediately begins walking home along the same route the wife drives. Eventually his wife sees him on her way to the station and drives him the rest of the way home. When they arrive home the man notices that they arrived 20 minutes earlier than usual. How much time did the man spend walking?

A. 45 minutes
B. 50 minutes
C. 40 minutes
D. 55 minutes
E. 35 minutes
Normal day:
4pm --> The wife leaves home and drives to the station.
5pm --> The husband's train and the wife both arrive at the station.
6pm --> The husband and wife arrive home.
Implication:
The normal driving time in each direction = 60 minutes.

Today:
Since the wife and the husband arrive home 20 minutes early, the wife must drive 10 fewer minutes in each direction, implying that she meets the husband after driving 50 minutes from home instead of 60 minutes.
Since she leaves at 4pm, she picks up the husband at 4:50pm.

Since the husband arrives at the station one hour earlier than usual, he arrives at the station at 4pm instead of 5pm.
Since the husband arrives at the station at 4pm and is picked up by the wife at 4:50pm, he must have walked for 50 minutes.

The correct answer is B.
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by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Sun Aug 26, 2018 6:41 pm
BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Each day a man meets his wife at the train station after work, and then she drives him home. She always arrives exactly on time to pick him up. One day he catches an earlier train and arrives at the station an hour early. He immediately begins walking home along the same route the wife drives. Eventually his wife sees him on her way to the station and drives him the rest of the way home. When they arrive home the man notices that they arrived 20 minutes earlier than usual. How much time did the man spend walking?

A. 45 minutes
B. 50 minutes
C. 40 minutes
D. 55 minutes
E. 35 minutes
We can assume on a normal day, he is supposed to arrive at the train station at 5 pm. So on this particular day, he arrives at the station at 4 pm. Furthermore, since his wife and he arrive home 20 minutes early, his wife must have driven 10 minutes less in each direction. Suppose that she leaves the house at 4 pm, she would have driven for 60 minutes normally to pick him up at 5 pm. However, since on this particular day, she has driven 10 minutes less to pick him up, she has only driven for 50 minutes to pick him up (somewhere on the road) at 4:50 pm. Since he arrives at the station at 4 pm and starts walking, he must have walked for 50 minutes also when he meets her.

(Note: In the above, we assume his wife leaves at 4 pm. One might wonder what happen if she leaves the house at a different time? The answer is: It doesn't matter, he still would have walked for 50 minutes when he meets her. For example, let's say, his wife leaves the house at 4:10 pm, she would have driven for 50 minutes normally to pick him up at 5 pm. However, since on this particular day, she has driven 10 minutes less to pick him up, she has only driven for 40 minutes to pick him up (somewhere on the road) at 4:50 pm. Since he arrives at the station at 4 pm and starts walking, he must have walked for 50 minutes also when he meets her.)

Answer: B

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