Question

Elmer the emu takes $44$ equal strides to walk between consecutive telephone poles on a rural road. Oscar the ostrich can cover the same distance in $12$ equal leaps. The telephone poles are evenly spaced, and the $41$ st pole along this road is exactly one mile ( $5280$ feet) from the first pole. How much longer, in feet, is Oscar's leap than Elmer's stride?

$6$

$8$

$10$

$11$

$15$

Answer: B

Concepts:ratio and proportion unit conversion fencepost counting

Difficulty rating: 870

Solution:

There are $40$ gaps between the $1$ st and $41$ st pole, which means that the distance between consecutive poles is $5280 \div 40 = 132$ feet.

This means that each of Elmer's strides is $132 \div 44 = 3$ feet. Similarly, each of Oscar's leaps is $132 \div 12 = 11$ feet. This makes Oscar's leap $11 - 3 = 8$ feet longer.

Thus, B is the correct answer.

2021 AMC 10A Fall Problem 6

Answer: B

Difficulty rating: 870

Solution:

Problem 6 in Other Years