Over the course of 8 races, a runner's finishing time was 5 seconds faster each race than the race prior. if her combined total for all 8 races was 44:20, what was her finishing time for the second race?

X + (x-5) + (x-10) ...

This adds up to 8x - 140 seconds where x is the 1st race time.

This adds up to 44:20 minutes

44mins * 60 sec/min = 2640 seconds + 20 = 2660 seconds cummulative

8x - 140 = 2660 8x = 2800 sec

8x = 350 seconds or 4.5mins for the 1st race

Race 2: subtract 5 seconds yields 4 mins 25 seconds