Jimmy walks to his school every morning. If he walks at 40 meters per minute, he will reach his school 5 minutes late. If he walks at 60 meters per minute, he will reach his school 3 minutes before the bell rings How far is the school from Jimmy's house?

1 answer

Let's call the distance from Jimmy's house to school "d".

Using the formula distance = rate x time, we can set up two equations based on the given information:

d = 40(t + 5) (since Jimmy is 5 minutes late)
d = 60(t - 3) (since Jimmy is 3 minutes early)

We want to solve for "d", so let's eliminate the "t" variable by setting the two equations equal to each other:

40(t + 5) = 60(t - 3)

40t + 200 = 60t - 180

20t = 380

t = 19

Now that we know Jimmy's travel time is 19 minutes, we can plug that back into either equation to find the distance:

d = 40(19 + 5)

d = 960 meters

Therefore, the school is 960 meters away from Jimmy's house.