Personal Comment: Inspired by true events, use math to find the answer

Walk-a-thon Enigma

What we know: A walk-a-thon is occurring on the track of a local High School. Several people are gathered there. Some people watch from the middle, grassy area while they take a break. Me and a friend were watching two people walking on the straight part of the track. The first person, Jared, was 27 steps BEHIND the second person, Michael. I noticed that Michael took 8 steps for every 5 steps that Jared took. I saw that Jared still eventually caught up with Michael. I pointed that out to my friend. He said "Yeah.... but, Jared's stride is longer as Micheal's. 2 of Jared's steps equal 5 of Michael's steps." We also both noticed that they walked at the same rate the entire distance. But we could not figure out why Jared was trying to beat Michael - it was not a race.

Enigma: How many steps did Jared take until he reached Michael?

Solution: Jared took 30 steps to reach Michael. Michael took 48 steps and added to his original head start of 27, equals a total of 75 steps to Jared's 30

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