1. Two cyclists set off simultaneously from point $A$ to point $B$. When the first cyclist had covered half the distance, the second cyclist had 24 km left to travel, and when the second cyclist had covered half the distance, the first cyclist had 15 km left to travel. Find the distance between points $A$ and $B$.
# Solution:

Let $s$ be the distance between points $A$ and $B$, and $v_{1}, v_{2}$ be the speeds of the cyclists. Then $\frac{s}{2 v_{1}}=\frac{s-24}{v_{2}}$ and $\frac{s-15}{v_{1}}=\frac{s}{2 v_{2}}$. From this, $\frac{s}{2(s-24)}=\frac{(s-15) \cdot 2}{s} ; s^{2}=4 s^{2}-4 \cdot 39 s+60 \cdot 24$; $s^{2}-52 s+480=0 ; s_{1,2}=26 \pm 14 . s_{1}=40, \quad s_{2}=12$ does not satisfy the conditions of the problem $s>15, s>24$. Answer: 40 km.