50(√2+1) metres
- Akshay Ginodia Sir is this the right answer?
There is a 50m long army platoon marching ahead. The last person in the platoon wants to give a letter to the first person leading the platoon. So while the platoon is marching he runs ahead, reaches the first person and hands over the letter to him and without stopping he runs and comes back to his original position. In the mean time the whole platoon has moved ahead by 50m. The question is how much distance did the last person cover in that time. Assuming that he ran the whole distance with uniform speed.
Let x be the distance covered by the platoon when the man runs ahead..
so, Distance covered by the man = 50+x
and while returning = 50-(50-x) = x
ratio of speeds are equal..so..
xt1(50+x)t1 = (50-x)t2xt2
i.e, x2 = 2500-x2
so, x=25√2
so total distance covered by the man = 50+x+x
= 50+50√2
=50(1+√2) :)