It takes Clea 60 seconds to walk down an escalator when it is not operating, and only 24 seconds to walk down the escalator when it is operating. How many seconds does it take Clea to ride down the operating escalator when she just stands on it?
Let $s$ be the speed of the escalator and $c$ be the speed of Clea. Using $d = v t$, the first statement can be translated to the equation $d = 60c$. The second statement can be translated to $d = 24(c+s)$. Since the same distance is being covered in each scenario, we can set the two equations equal and solve for $s$. We find that $s = \dfrac{3c}{2}$. The problem asks for the time it takes her to ride down the escalator when she just stands on it. Since $t = \dfrac{d}{s}$ and $d = 60c$, we have $t = \dfrac{60c}{\dfrac{3c}{2}} = 40$ seconds. Answer choice $\fbox{40}$ is correct.