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CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics · Time and Distance

A train 150 m long runs at a speed of 54 km/h. How much time will it take to cross a telegraph pole standing beside the track?

The train takes 10 seconds. Its speed of 54 km/h converts to 15 m/s, and crossing a pole means covering only its own length of 150 m, so time equals 150 divided by 15, which is 10 seconds.

  1. A8 seconds
  2. B10 secondsCorrect
  3. C12 seconds
  4. D15 seconds

Explanation

Speed = 54 km/h = 54 × 5/18 = 15 m/s. Time to pass a pole equals the train's length divided by speed = 150/15 = 10 seconds. Choosing 15 seconds would come from wrongly using 10 m/s as the speed.

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