Question

Three members of the school track team ran a 3-lap relay race. Their combined time was 71.0 seconds. The times for the first 2 laps are shown below.

Lap 1: 23.5 seconds
Lap 2: 24.6 seconds
What was the time for lap 3? Type your answer in the box below.

seconds

Answer 1

To find the time for lap 3, we can start by adding the times for the first two laps and then subtract that from the total combined time.

The given times are:
- Lap 1: 23.5 seconds
- Lap 2: 24.6 seconds

First, let's calculate the combined time for the first two laps:

\[
\text{Total time for Lap 1 and Lap 2} = 23.5 + 24.6 = 48.1 \text{ seconds}
\]

Now, we know the total time for all three laps is 71.0 seconds. We can find the time for Lap 3 by subtracting the total time for the first two laps from the overall total time:

\[
\text{Time for Lap 3} = \text{Total time} - \text{Total time for Lap 1 and Lap 2}
\]
\[
\text{Time for Lap 3} = 71.0 - 48.1 = 22.9 \text{ seconds}
\]

So, the time for lap 3 is **22.9 seconds**.