Question: A van and a lorry set off at the same time from Town A towards Town B at constant

speeds of 60km/h and 50km/h respectively. At the same time, a car travelling at a constant
speed of 100km/h set off from Town B towards Town A. If the car passes the lorry exactly 12
min after passing the van, how far is Town A from Town B?
Lorry
Van
Car
Car
Lorry
Van
Speed ratio - 10 : 6
150u 90u
160u 80u
Q
P
Q
P
So, distance PQ = 12min x 100 km/h = 20 km = 10u
1u = 2 km

AB = 240u = 240 x 2 km = 480 km

The distnace between Town A and Town B is 480 km.
B A B A
Speed ratio - 10 : 5
Car
Car
Question: A van and a lorry set off at the same time from Town A towards Town B at constant
speeds of 60km/h and 50km/h respectively. At the same time, a car travelling at a constant
speed of 100km/h set off from Town B towards Town A. If the car passes the lorry exactly 12
min after passing the van, how far is Town A from Town B?
Lorry
Van
Q
P
B A
Car
Car
R
Before the Car & Lorry passed each other at Q, the Lorry was at R such that
PR = (50+100) km/h x 12 min = 30km

This means that the Van was 30km ahead of the lorry when the van passed the car.
Time to travel distance AP, for car = 30km 10km/h = 3h

Time for car to travel distance AP = 60/100 x 3h = 1.8h
Total time for car to travel from B to A = 3h + 1.8 h = 4.8h
So, distance AB = 4.8h x 100 km/h = 480 km

The distance between Town A and Town B is 480km.
Question: A van and a lorry set off at the same time from Town A towards Town B at constant
speeds of 60km/h and 50km/h respectively. At the same time, a car travelling at a constant
speed of 100km/h set off from Town B towards Town A. If the car passes the lorry exactly 12
min after passing the van, how far is Town A from Town B?
Another approach is to use the combined speed.

For the car and the van, the combined speed is 100 km/h + 60 km/h = 160 km/h
For the car and the lorry, the combined speed is 100km/h + 50 km/h = 150 km/h

Speed ratio of car & van : car & lorry = 160 : 150 = 16u : 15u
Total distance AB = 16u

So, 1u = 150km/h x 12 min = 30 km
** since when the car & van completed the distance AB (when car passed the van),
car & lorry was 12 min behind (the car would pass the lorry 12 min later).

So, total distance AB = 16 x 30 km = 480 km

The distance between Town A and Town B is 480 km.
Question: Mr Tan drove from city X to city Y. At the same time, Mr Koh drove from city Y to city X. They
passed each other 64 km away from city Y and continued their journeys. They made a U-turn upon reaching
their destinations so that they could return to their own cities. They passed each other again 52 km away from
city X. Find the distance between the two places when they met each other.
Mr Koh
Mr Tan
X Y
A B
64 km 52 km
When Mr Koh and Mr Tan first met at A, the total distance both travelled = XY

After they met, they continued their journeys , when they meet again at B,
total distance travelled = 2 x XY.

So, distance travelled by Mr Koh from A to B = 2 x 64 km = 128 km
Distance AB = 128 km 2 x 52 km = 24 km

The two meeting points were 24 km apart.