Question

Five​ runners, Andy,​ Beth, Dale,​ Ella, and​ Tri, are in a​ one-mile race.

Beth finished 6 second left parenthesis s right parenthesis before Ella. Ella finished 4 second left parenthesis s right parenthesis before Tri.
Tri finished 8 second left parenthesis s right parenthesis after Dale. Andy finished 11 second left parenthesis s right parenthesis after Dale.
In which order did the runners finish the​ race?

Answer 1

Beth, Dale, Ella, Tri, Andy

Explanation:

Let a, b, d, e, t represent the runners' finish times (matching their first initial). Then we have ...

b = e -6

e = t -4

t = d +8

a = d +11

If we arbitrarily let b=0, then we can find the values of the other times as ...

e = b+6 = 6

t = e +4 = 10

d = t -8 = 2

a = d +11 = 13

In order, the times are 0 (b), 2 (d), 6 (e), 10 (t), and 13 (a)

The order of finish is ...

Beth, Dale, Ella, Tri, Andy