In a 200 meter race, Taniya beats Geetansh by 40 meters or by 10 seconds. The time taken by Taniya to complete the race will be:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → 40 seconds
“Beats by 40 m or by 10 seconds” means that Geetansh (the loser) needs 10 more seconds to cover the last 40 m.
\( \displaystyle \text{Speed of Geetansh}=\frac{40}{10}=4\text{ m/s} \)
\( \displaystyle \text{Time taken by Geetansh for 200 m}=\frac{200}{4}=50\text{ s} \)
Taniya finishes 10 seconds before Geetansh:
\( \displaystyle \text{Time taken by Taniya}=50-10=40\text{ s} \)
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (1) 50 seconds — Incorrect. 50 seconds is the time taken by Geetansh, not Taniya.
Option (3) 60 seconds — Incorrect. 60 seconds adds the 10 seconds to Geetansh’s time instead of subtracting them.
Option (4) 30 seconds — Incorrect. Geetansh would then take 40 s for 200 m, a speed of 5 m/s, and would cover 40 m in 8 s, not 10 s.