It's how far?
Chris, favoring his injured leg, calls Knightmare and asks if Knightmare will let him ride his mule to the next village of Paradoxia. Knightmare agrees to the loan, but offers to walk along in front so his mule will see him and not buck Chris from its back ... besides, Knightmare knows the best route and tells Chris they will stop in Guessville for refreshments before continuing.
After traveling for 40 minutes, Chris asks, "What distance have we covered so far?"
Knightmare responds, "Just half as far as it is to Guessville."
After creeping along for seven more miles, Chris asks, "How far is it to Paradoxia?"
The reply, as before, was, "Just half as far as it is to Guessville."
They arrived at Paradoxia in one more hour of travel.
How far is it from their hometown to Paradoxia?
After traveling for 40 minutes, Chris asks, "What distance have we covered so far?"
Knightmare responds, "Just half as far as it is to Guessville."
After creeping along for seven more miles, Chris asks, "How far is it to Paradoxia?"
The reply, as before, was, "Just half as far as it is to Guessville."
They arrived at Paradoxia in one more hour of travel.
How far is it from their hometown to Paradoxia?
posted by Zaux at
8:43 PM
6 Comments:
14 miles.
After 40 minutes they have covered 4 miles, with a further 4 miles to Guessville.
After 7 more miles they are 3 miles past Guessville, with 3 more miles to Paradoxia.
So they have covered 4+7+3 = 14 miles.
The times are irrevelant as they are not travelling at a constant pace.
Wizard, not Wzard.
Ah, misread the question again.
The two stretches before and after the seven miles add up to half of the seven miles, being half as far to Guessville on each side of it.
So, 10.5 miles.
The actual distances at each question by Chris don't matter as the two "half as far as it is to Guessville" answers add up to 3.5 miles.
Again, times are irrelevant.
He's right. I went through an elaborate calculation, assuming a constant speed (which worked out to be 7/200 miles per minute), only to arrive at the same distance, 10.5 miles.
So I reworked it to explain it the way Lizard (Wizard? Wzard? Wiz?) said it, but in more words:
map of the journey:
H....A....G.....B.........P
x y z w
Arriving at point A after 40 minutes, the distance travelled was half the distance to Guessville.
x = y/2
From point A to point B is 7 miles.
y+z = 7
Arriving at point B, the distance to Paradoxville is half the distance to Guessville.
w = z/2
Total distance = x+y+z+w
= y/2 + y + z + z/2
= 3/2(y+z)
= 3/2 * 7 = 10.5 miles
Wizard is the winner ... followed closely by Ross.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home