take a look at this question

Question

http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1446147947

Am I guilty of overkill or over-thinking this ?
Surely there has to be an easier way.

Answer 1

well, let's see. Walking an extra 12 steps took an extra 18 seconds.

So, the difference in speeds is 3/2 sec/step

That means that if we let

w = # steps walked
s = running rate, sec/step

w(s+3/2) + 16s = 60
(w-12)(s+3/2) + 28s = 42

That winds up with

w = (120-32s)/(2s+3)

Again, not a unique solution. So the search would be for an integer value for w.

Answer 2

I would have taken the same approach. I wonder though if something was left out of the problem statement.

Answer 3

thanks guys, like Damon suggested, if they had given the number of steps, the question would have been very simple.

Steve, I like that initial idea of using the difference, never thought of that.