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Fly shuttling between cars 400 miles apart

Question

Two cars sit at the two ends of a straight 400400-mile road and set off toward one another at the same moment: car AA moves at 120120 mph and car BB at 6060 mph. At the start, a fly leaves car BB heading for car AA at 180180 mph. Each time it reaches one car it turns around instantly and heads for the other, keeping the same speed, and it carries on doing this until the two cars collide (it never escapes). What total distance does the fly cover?

Short answer

400400 miles. The cars close the gap at 120+60=180120+60=180 mph, so they meet after 400/180=209400/180=\tfrac{20}{9} hours. The fly flies at 180180 mph for that whole time, covering 180⋅209=400180\cdot\tfrac{20}{9}=400 miles; there is no need to sum the infinitely many legs.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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