I am posting here four questions that I asked my students in today's quiz.
There are no trick questions here, and there are no acceptable smartass
answers such as "they should just run faster than the villagers" or "they
should drink their own sweat".

Please, do not post your answers. Let everyone who wants to give them a try.
The correct answers will be posted Monday at noon EST, when the assignment is
due from my students. You can see how close you were then.

1) Four explorers are on their way across a vast expanse of desert to an
ancient temple. Their research has told them this temple contains a golden
box, which is worth an enormous amount of money.

After nine days of travel, they find some local villagers. During the
conversation that follows, they learn that they are currently 5 kilometers due
north of the village, and from that village, there is a paved road that goes
10 kilometers due east to the temple they're looking for. The explorers,
however, let it slip that they are after the golden box. Immediately the
villagers go to protect the temple and head in a straight line directly
towards the temple, in the effort to get there first and seal the entrance.

The explorers know that time is now of the essence. They dump any supplies
they no longer need and devise the following plan: they will head directly
towards the road, aiming for a spot on the road that is 3 miles from the
village, and 7 miles from the temple. Then they will follow the road to the
temple, using the road's faster travel speed to beat the villagers there.

Travel in the desert, for an explorer or a villager, is 2 kilometers per hour.
Travel on the road is a faster 4 kilometers per hour.

Question #1:How many minutes do the explorers get to themselves at the temple
before the villagers arrive?

Shinarae Lluminus