the school's track team ran the 220 relay in 7 minutes 46 seconds at their first track meet. The next meet, their time was 42 seconds shorter. At the next, their improvement was twice as great. What was their total running time at the last met?

Answer 1

meet 1: 7'46"
meet 2: 7'46" - 42" = 7'04"
next meet the reduction was 2*42 = 84 seconds
meet 3: 7'04" - 84" = 5'40"