1994 AJHSME Problems/Problem 18
Problem
Mike leaves home and drives slowly east through city traffic. When he reaches the highway he drives east more rapidly until he reaches the shopping mall where he stops. He shops at the mall for an hour. Mike returns home by the same route as he came, driving west rapidly along the highway and then slowly through city traffic. Each graph shows the distance from home on the vertical axis versus the time elapsed since leaving home on the horizontal axis. Which graph is the best representation of Mike's trip?
![[asy] import graph; unitsize(12); real a(real x) {return ((x-15)^2)/2;} real b(real x) {return ((x-25)^2)/2;} real c(real x) {return ((x-30)^2 * (x-40)^2) * 8/625;} real d(real x) {return ((x-15)^2)*8/25-15;} real e(real x) {return ((x-25)^2)*8/25-15;} draw((0,9)--(0,0)--(11,0)); draw((15,9)--(15,0)--(26,0)); draw((30,9)--(30,0)--(41,0)); draw((0,-6)--(0,-15)--(11,-15)); draw((15,-6)--(15,-15)--(26,-15)); draw((0,0)--(3,8)--(7,8)--(10,0)); draw(graph(a,15,17)); draw((17,2)--(18,8)--(22,8)--(23,2)); draw(graph(b,23,25)); draw(graph(c,30,40)); draw((0,-15)--(5,-7)--(10,-15)); draw(graph(d,15,20)); draw(graph(e,20,25)); for (int k=0; k<3; ++k) { label("d",(15*k-1,8),N); label("i",(15*k-1,7),N); label("s",(15*k-1,6),N); label("t",(15*k-1,5),N); label("a",(15*k-1,4),N); label("n",(15*k-1,3),N); label("c",(15*k-1,2),N); label("e",(15*k-1,1),N); label("time",(15*k+8,0),S); } for (int k=0; k<2; ++k) { label("d",(15*k-1,8-15),N); label("i",(15*k-1,7-15),N); label("s",(15*k-1,6-15),N); label("t",(15*k-1,5-15),N); label("a",(15*k-1,4-15),N); label("n",(15*k-1,3-15),N); label("c",(15*k-1,2-15),N); label("e",(15*k-1,1-15),N); label("time",(15*k+8,0-15),S); } label("(A)",(5,9),N); label("(B)",(20,9),N); label("(C)",(35,9),N); label("(D)",(5,-6),N); label("(E)",(20,-6),N); [/asy]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/5/4/f/54fa0589b184daa9603f51226247a036be9ec376.png)
Solution
When Mike is shopping at the mall, his distance doesn't change, so there should be a flat plateau shape on the graph. This rules out 
. The portion of graph 
in which the distance is changing is linear, inconsistent with how he changes speed from the city and the highway. The best representation of his travels is graph 
.
See Also
| 1994 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 17 |
Followed by Problem 19 | |
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 | ||
| All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions | ||
