Problem 3 · 1994 AJHSME
Medium
Arithmetic & Operations
time-arithmetic
Each day Maria must work 8 hours. This does not include the 45 minutes she takes for lunch. If she begins working at 7:25 A.M. and takes her lunch break at noon, then her working day will end at
Show answer
Answer: C — 4:10 P.M.
Show hints
Hint 1 of 2
Lunch is unpaid time, so it doesn't count toward her 8 hours — treat it as a gap she just slides past, not as work done.
Still stuck? Show hint 2 →
Hint 2 of 2
Split the 8 working hours at noon: figure out how much she's already worked before lunch, then add the rest after lunch ends.
Show solution
Approach: split the workday around lunch
- Morning work: 7:25 to noon. Step to 8:00 (35 min) then 8:00 to 12:00 (4 h) = 4 h 35 min done.
- Work still owed: 8 h − 4 h 35 min = 3 h 25 min. The lunch break (45 min) is just dead time, so her clock restarts when lunch ends at 12:45.
- From 12:45, add 3 h 25 min: 12:45 → 3:45 (3 h) → 4:10 P.M. (25 more min).
- Quick check the other way: she works noon-to-X for 3 h 25 min, plus the 4 h 35 min before, totals exactly 8 h. The trap is forgetting the 45-min lunch and ending at 3:25 instead.
Another way — add the whole span at once:
- She is at work from 7:25 until the end. Total time at work = 8 h work + 45 min lunch = 8 h 45 min.
- 7:25 + 8 h = 3:25 P.M.; + 45 min = 4:10 P.M. This skips the noon split entirely.
Mark:
· log in to save