SOLUTION: In a race the team walked a combined distance of 40500 metres. Terry walked three times as far as jill, veronica walked 500 metres less than jill and gordon walked half the distan

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Question 1044905: In a race the team walked a combined distance of 40500 metres.
Terry walked three times as far as jill, veronica walked 500 metres less than jill and gordon walked half the distance that veronica walked. How far did each member of the team cover.
Attempted it myself with 40500 = 3j + j + j - 500 + ((j - 500) / 2) however have not been able to get closer than a combined walk of 41050 metres.
Found 2 solutions by advanced_Learner, MathTherapy:
Answer by advanced_Learner(501) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
let jill distance be {{x}}} x distance walked by jill
terry distance is {{3x}}} 3 times as far as jill.
veronica walked {{x-500}}} 500 metre less than jill.
gordon walked {{1/2}}}{{x-500}}}
total is
=
x=7500
jill 7500
terry 225000
veronic 7000
gordon 35000
total 40500

Answer by MathTherapy(10553) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

In a race the team walked a combined distance of 40500 metres.
Terry walked three times as far as jill, veronica walked 500 metres less than jill and gordon walked half the distance that veronica walked. How far did each member of the team cover.
Attempted it myself with 40500 = 3j + j + j - 500 + ((j - 500) / 2) however have not been able to get closer than a combined walk of 41050 metres.

You're correct in the setup of your equation. However, I don't know why your sum is 41,050. I wish you would've shared more.
Anyway, assuming that j is the distance Jill walked, we start from here ======>
------ Combining like-terms
82,000 = 10j + j - 500 ------ Multiplying by LCD, 2
82,500 = 11j ------- Combining like-terms
j, or distance Jill walked = =