Question

As shown in figure, a lifeguard sees a struggling swimmer who is $40$ feet from the beach. The lifeguard runs 60 feet along the edge of the water at a speed of $12$ feet per second. He pauses for $1$ second to locate the swimmer again, and then dives into the water and swims along a diagonal path to the swimmer at speed of $5$ feet per second. How many seconds go by between the time the lifeguard sees the struggling swimmer and the time he reaches the swimmer?

• A. $16$
• B. $22$
• C. $50$
• D. $56$

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

$16$

Run time along the beach = $\frac{60}{12}=5$ sec

Pause time $=1$ sec

Swim time along the hypotenuse $=\frac{50}{5}=10$ sec

Total time $=5+1+10=16$ seconds.