The table shows the relationship between the participants walking and running for the week's cross-country practices.

Walk (laps) 3 B 15
Run (laps) 5 10 D
Total (laps) A C 40

At this rate, how many laps will the participants walk and run if the total distance is 24 laps?
They will walk 7 laps and run 17 laps.

They will walk 15 laps and run 9 laps.

They will walk 9 laps and run 15 laps.

They will walk 6 laps and run 18 laps.

1 answer

The answer is "They will walk 6 laps and run 18 laps." To find this, we can use a system of equations.

From the first row, we know that A + B = 3. From the second row, we know that C + D = 5.

From the third row, we know that A + C = 15 and B + D = 10.

Adding the equations A + B = 3 and B + D = 10, we get A + B + B + D = 13, which simplifies to A + 2B + D = 13.

Subtracting the equation C + D = 5 from A + C = 15, we get A + C - C - D = 10, which simplifies to A - D = 10.

Now we have the system of equations:
A + 2B + D = 13
A - D = 10

Solving this system of equations, we find that A = 4, B = 1, and D = -6. Since laps cannot be negative, we know that D must be 6 instead.

We can then substitute these values back into the equations to find C. From the equation A + C = 15, we know that A = 4, so C must be 11.

Therefore, the participants will walk 4 laps and run 6 laps.

If the total distance is 24 laps, the participants will walk 4/15 * 24 = 6.4 laps and run 6/5 * 24 = 28.8 laps.

Since we can't have fractional laps, the closest whole number to 6.4 is 6 and the closest whole number to 28.8 is 29.

So, the participants will walk 6 laps and run 29 laps.