A Puzzle

[Kristy]

An ant takes from sunrise to sunset to climb up a long spiral path, and the same time next day to walk down again. Is there one place the ant will be at the same time of day on both trips?

[Anonymous]

No, 'coz when she's going up it's day, and when she's going down it's night.

Oh, great. My beer is turning flat.

Cheers! :bottle:

[Kristy]

Wrong answer.

[Anonymous]

Oh...

So it's going to be down at sunrise when it leaves, and down at sunrise when it arrives , yes?

Cheers! :bottle:

[Kristy]

You're getting warmer.

[Anonymous]

You shouldn't post these thing at this hour on a Saturday. It's 6 am where I've fell down from last night's... er, socializing.

I'll sleep on this. Don't say if anyone got it right for the next day or two, it'll give more people the chance to try & guess it.

Cheers! :bottle:

[Kristy]

Here's a hint: think of two ants taking the same journey.

[Kristy]

Since no one cares I'll give the answer away.

Okay, to prove that there must be one point occupied at the same time of day, imagine the two journeys superimposed or, two ants starting from bottom and top simultaneously; the point where they meet must be the one common to both journeys.

[Anonymous]

Curses! You women only give us what we want when we're not interested anymore!

Why must it always be so? :umm:

:)

Cheers! :bottle:

[chefcraig]

Dave:...OK, let's try this a third time Ed...if a train leaves Chicago heading West at 40 miles per hour, and a second train heading the same direction leaves an hour later traveling 60 miles per hour, how long until the second train catches the first?

Ed: Well...what color is the first train?

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f320/IronMike778/2v0jw48.jpg

[Hardrock69]

:lmao:

As for the riddle, the answer is easy. If it is sunrise-to-sunset both days, the ant will be at the halfway point of his journey each day at high noon. Which theoretically should be the exact same place.

[LoungeMachine]

Great, now I have this stuck in my head........

YouTube - Dave Matthews Band - Ants Marching (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LY9p8Spe7Y)

[Nitro Express]

You have positive and negative constant velocity in this puzzle and yes both vectors will cross the same inflection point at 50% the constant velocity.

[Nitro Express]

It's a simple space and time problem because the velocity is the same but in positive and negative realms. So where the meet would be half the time of the velocity.

[Seshmeister]

:lmao:

As for the riddle, the answer is easy. If it is sunrise-to-sunset both days, the ant will be at the halfway point of his journey each day at high noon. Which theoretically should be the exact same place.

Not neccesarily. We don't know if the ant is travelling at a constant speed.

Say for example the first mile is up a steep hill.

There will be somewhere and some time that the paths cross but we don't know when and where from the information provided.

Do I win a prize?

[FORD]

First mile?

How many miles do you think a fucking ant could walk in one day? :biggrin:

[kwame k]

First mile?

How many miles do you think a fucking ant could walk in one day? :biggrin:

Exactly.......it was a trick puzzle/question type of thing!

[Seshmeister]

First mile?

How many miles do you think a fucking ant could walk in one day? :biggrin:

Well the first 10 feet then, the distance is irrelevant. :)