[tHe_aRisTocRatiC_aSSaSSiN]

There are two towns: Town A and Town B. Now there is only one path that connects the two towns together. An elderly woman from Town A and an elderly woman from Town B both leave at dawn to get to the other town. They pass by each other at 12:00 PM, but the woman from Town A arrives at 9:00 PM and the woman from Town B arrives at 4:00 PM.

What time did they leave? (Hint: they move at a constant speed)

EDIT:

I've seen many people say that the answer is DAWN. It is NOT the answer.

[Steven_Master2008]

waah!! cool i had a big math week and now i see this.. =(

Anyways ill try myself.. but not now..im too tired...arggghhh..i ll try tomorrow..

[Original Doll]

At Down! lol xD
A @8AM
B @3AM
?
.
.

[XIAHT!C]

oh dang...



hmm....
uhh wuhh?? lmao i dont get it x_x

[tHe_aRisTocRatiC_aSSaSSiN]

No, no! ^^; They both leave at dawn, at the same time. One is moving faster than the other.

[wangta]

i'm guessing it has to do with the distance the towns are and how far they are apart? like different time zones? i dunno

[wh0-care5]

they left at dawn...? is that it?

[aime]

It's actually indeterminate..
say a is the speed of lady A, b is of lady B
let d be the total distance.

since they start at the same time, they spend same time walking when they meet each other, which both of their distances added together will be total distance, because d=speed*time

d=a*t+b*t

after colliding, they continue, and their total distances when reach destination, will be 9 hours*a and 4 hours*b, which adds to total distance.

d=9a+4b

so we set them equal a*t+b*t=9a+4b => t=(9a+4b)/(a+b

as far as im concerned a and b are variant, which means t can change.

[yun;su]

Isn't the asnwer Dawn? They both left at dawn...do we have to figure out an actaul time O_o Man i sock at these

[Shinara]

It's actually indeterminate..
say a is the speed of lady A, b is of lady B
let d be the total distance.

since they start at the same time, they spend same time walking when they meet each other, which both of their distances added together will be total distance, because d=speed*time

d=a*t+b*t

after colliding, they continue, and their total distances when reach destination, will be 9 hours*a and 4 hours*b, which adds to total distance.

d=9a+4b

so we set them equal a*t+b*t=9a+4b => t=(9a+4b)/(a+b

as far as im concerned a and b are variant, which means t can change.

Well, you got mix up a bit...

it's true that a*t + b*t = 9a + 4b, however, it should be written as

a*t = 4b and b*t = 9a. To make it clear, I'll draw a diagram

A ------------X---------------------B

X is where they meet at 12pm. Now, the A person walks to X in t hours, so AX = a*t, the B person walks XA from 12pm to 4pm, so in his term, XA = 4b, so there we have a*t = 4b, similarly b*t = 9a.

From here, it's easy. we have a*t = 4b, hence, b = (a*t)/4, sub it in to b*t = 9a we have

(a*t square)/4 = 9a --> t square = 36 ---> t = 6

So they left at 6, with the speed of the person from B to be 1.5 times greater than the one from A

[ngaouction]

i love how people actually worked out math equations when this was a question of how perceptive you are.

[~azn_pwincess~]

errrrrmm... at dawn?? O_________o

and the person up up there ^ .. u must really like maths O_O

[Shinara]

This is a math problem lol...there's an exact answer so why not work it out. It's not like I like math or anything, but it is just too simple to be ignored when then departure time of 6 am (Which is yes yes..."dawn") can be calculated

[iciclepop]

dawn? cause the riddle does say they both left at dawn..

[Malice_Kaiser]

If the answer called for math equations it wouldn't be a riddle. -___-;

If I were the OP, I would mix up riddle a bit, just to throw ya off...

"The elderly woman from town A leaves at dawn. About an hour later she is attacked by a quadriplegic monkey who's had its eyes gnawed out by a whily mongoose. The woman from town B leaves at dawn too, but must fight off a fat Albanian women with only one nostril before she can proceed. Given the circumstances, what time did the two women leave?"

[soupinmychickenoodle]

is it dawn? unless you wanted the specific time dawn is

[_ShiKAndA_]

WHAT?! omgosh ahah MATH PROBLEMS! I say they both left at DAWN but then lady A was riding a SCOOTER

then she hit ladyB and it took a while for lady B to get up. YEP THERES MY LOGICAL ANSWER =D

[tHe_aRisTocRatiC_aSSaSSiN]

Shinara got it right! And yeah, Chaymia, since it includes math I didn't know what to call it so I stuck it under riddle =X

And for all those people who said "dawn" is the answer, I did ask for the TIME (specific) they left, not WHEN (vague) they left.

[Fui]

They both leave at dawn.
This is a trick question huh?

[Kibi]

i would say ... they 'both leave at dawn' ^^;; because its a riddle.