Question

Henry decides one morning to do a workout, and he walks $\tfrac{3}{4}$ of the way from his home to his gym. The gym is $2$ kilometers away from Henry's home. At that point, he changes his mind and walks $\tfrac{3}{4}$ of the way from where he is back toward home. When he reaches that point, he changes his mind again and walks $\tfrac{3}{4}$ of the distance from there back toward the gym. If Henry keeps changing his mind when he has walked $\tfrac{3}{4}$ of the distance toward either the gym or home from the point where he last changed his mind, he will get very close to walking back and forth between a point $A$ kilometers from home and a point $B$ kilometers from home. What is $|A-B|?$

$\frac{2}{3}$

$1$

$1 \frac{1}{5}$

$1 \frac{1}{4}$

$1 \frac{1}{2}$

Answer: C

Concepts:recursion linear equation

Difficulty rating: 1540

Solution:

Suppose a limiting homeward turnaround point is $x$ kilometers from home. After Henry walks toward the gym, his position is $2-\frac{2-x}{4}=\frac32+\frac{x}{4}.$

After he turns back toward home, one quarter of that distance remains, so his next homeward turnaround point is $\frac14\left(\frac32+\frac{x}{4}\right)=\frac38+\frac{x}{16}.$

At the limiting point this two-step map leaves the position unchanged, so $x=\frac38+\frac{x}{16},$ which gives $x=\frac25$ .

The other limiting point is the position reached after walking toward the gym: $2-\frac{2-\frac25}{4}=\frac85.$ Therefore $|A-B|=\frac85-\frac25=\frac65=1\frac15.$

Thus, the correct answer is C .

2019 AMC 10B Problem 18

Answer: C

Difficulty rating: 1540

Solution:

Problem 18 in Other Years