5.3
or
5.4
or
5.48
Any of these is a rational number between 5.2 and 5.5.
One weighs a pound, and the other pounds away!
Cutting her time by 50% means reducing her time by half. Half of 45 seconds is 22.5 seconds. Therefore, to make the team, she must run a lap in 22.5 seconds.
If they're integers, that means they can't be fractions (such as 15/2 and 2).
So the only couples of integers that, when multiplied, result in 15 are:
1 and 15
5 and 3.
(there are no other possibilities as both 5 and 3 are not divisible further).
The smaller of the two sums (15+1; 5+3) is 5+3=8.
The least possible sum of a and b is 8.
