Mary and Kate are running clockwise around a circular track

Mary and Kate are running clockwise around a circular track with a circumference of 500 meters, each at her own constant speed. Mary runs 1000 meters every five minutes and Kate runs 1000 meters every six minutes. If Mary and Kate start opposite one another on the circular track, how many minutes must Mary run in order to pass Kate and catch her again?

A. 7.5
B. 22.5
C. 750
D. 7.5Ï€
E. 45Ï€

OA B

Source: Magoosh

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Jay@ManhattanReview: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3008; Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:19 am; Location: Grand Central / New York; Thanked: 470 times; Followed by:34 members

by Jay@ManhattanReview » Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:19 pm

BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Mary and Kate are running clockwise around a circular track with a circumference of 500 meters, each at her own constant speed. Mary runs 1000 meters every five minutes and Kate runs 1000 meters every six minutes. If Mary and Kate start opposite one another on the circular track, how many minutes must Mary run in order to pass Kate and catch her again?

A. 7.5
B. 22.5
C. 750
D. 7.5Ï€
E. 45Ï€

OA B

Source: Magoosh

Given that Mary runs 1000 meters every five minutes, Mary's speed = 1000/5 = 200 meters per minute and that Kate runs 1000 meters every six minutes, Kate's speed = 1000/6 = 500/3 meters per minute

Since they are running clockwise (i.e., in the same direction), their relative speed = 200 - 500/3 = 100/3 meters per minute

Given that Mary and Kate start opposite one another on the circular track, they are 500/2 = 250 meters apart.

Since the question asks how many minutes must Mary run in order to pass Kate and catch her again, Mary must run 250 + 500 = 750 meters to catch Kate again.

Time taken to cover 750 meters = 750/(100/3) = 22.5 minutes

The correct answer: B

Hope this helps!

-Jay
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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; Followed by:1268 members; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:30 am

BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Mary and Kate are running clockwise around a circular track with a circumference of 500 meters, each at her own constant speed. Mary runs 1000 meters every five minutes and Kate runs 1000 meters every six minutes. If Mary and Kate start opposite one another on the circular track, how many minutes must Mary run in order to pass Kate and catch her again?

A. 7.5
B. 22.5
C. 750
D. 7.5Ï€
E. 45Ï€

OA B

Source: Magoosh

To get a better idea of what's happening, let's sketch the set-up:

Mary is faster than Kate, we can say that Kate has a 250 meter head start. In other words, when Mary closes that 250-meter gap, she will pass Kate for the FIRST time.

However, since we want to find the time for Mary to pass Kate for the SECOND time, we can say that Kate has a 750 meter head start.

So we want to determine the time it takes Mary to close the gap from 750 meters to 0 meters.

Mary runs 1000 meters every five minutes and Kate runs 1000 meters every six minutes.
Speed = distance/time

Mary's speed = 1000 meters/5 minutes = 200 meters per minute
Kate's speed = 1000 meters/6 minutes â‰ˆ 167 meters per minute
200 meters per minute - 167 meters per minute = 33 meters per minute

So, the distance gap between Mary and Kate CLOSES at a rate of 33 meters per minute
We want to reduce the gap by 750 meters
Time = distance/rate
So, time = 750/33

STOP!! Before we perform this somewhat tedious calculation, we should scan the answer choices.
When we do so, we see that the answer choices are quite spread apart, which means we can be quite aggressive with our estimation.
So, rather than divide by 33, let's divide by 30

That is, 750/33 â‰ˆ 750/30 = 25
So, the correct answer is close to 25

Answer: B

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; Followed by:1906 members; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:31 am

BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Mary and Kate are running clockwise around a circular track with a circumference of 500 meters, each at her own constant speed. Mary runs 1000 meters every five minutes and Kate runs 1000 meters every six minutes. If Mary and Kate start opposite one another on the circular track, how many minutes must Mary run in order to pass Kate and catch her again?

A. 7.5
B. 22.5
C. 750
D. 7.5Ï€
E. 45Ï€

Since Mary is behind Kate by 250 meters -- half the circumference of the track -- she will catch up to Mary when she has traveled 250 meters more than Kate.
To catch up to Kate a second time, Mary must then travel one more lap than Kate -- in other words, 500 meters more than Kate.
Implication:
To catch up to Kate TWICE, Mary must travel a total of 750 meters more than Kate.

When people compete, SUBTRACT THEIR RATES.
Mary's rate = (1000 meters)/(5 minutes) = 200 meters per minute.
Kate's rate = (1000 meters)/(6 minutes) = 500/3 meters per minute.
Rate difference = 200 - 500/3 = 600/3 - 500/3 = 100/3 meters per minute.
Implication:
Every minute, Mary travels 100/3 meters more than Kate.

Since Mary must travel 750 meters more than Kate -- and every minute she travels 100/3 meters more than Kate -- the time for Mary to catch up to Kate twice = 750/(100/3) = (750*3)/100 = 7.5 * 3 = 22.5 minutes.

The correct answer is B.

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 7240; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times; Followed by:29 members

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Sun Apr 14, 2019 5:46 pm

BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Mary and Kate are running clockwise around a circular track with a circumference of 500 meters, each at her own constant speed. Mary runs 1000 meters every five minutes and Kate runs 1000 meters every six minutes. If Mary and Kate start opposite one another on the circular track, how many minutes must Mary run in order to pass Kate and catch her again?

A. 7.5
B. 22.5
C. 750
D. 7.5Ï€
E. 45Ï€

OA B

Source: Magoosh[/quoteSince Mary and Kate start opposite each other, in order for Mary to pass Kate and catch her again, she must run 1Â½ laps, or 750 meters, more than Kate. Also, since Mary's rate is 1000/5 = 200, and Kate's rate is 1000/6 = 500/3, the difference in rates is 200 - 500/3. Thus, the time, in minutes, Mary will pass Kate and catch her again is

750/(200 - 500/3)

2250/(600 - 500)

2250/100

22.5

Answer: B

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Founder and CEO
[email protected]

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