Snowplow Math Puzzle

One particular morning, snow begins to fall steadily. At 6:00 AM, a snowplow departs to clear a designated roadway. The plow operates at a fixed rate of snow removal, meaning its clearing speed decreases as the snow depth increases. During the period from 6 to 7 AM, it manages to cover a distance of 10 miles, while from 7 to 8 AM, it only gets through 5 miles. Can you determine when the snowfall actually began?

Links

• MindYourDecisions This YouTube video presents a similar type of puzzle for viewers to solve.
• Discussion about this problem in my forum at Wizard of Vegas.
• mathproblems.info In this video series, a variety of problems like this one are posed and resolved.

Written by: Michael Shackleford