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Topic: rescue (Read 634 times) |
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towr
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April's visiting Willy Wutang, even though he still hasn't finished her mixed tape according to her specification, and they go to one of California's fabulous beaches.
Alas Willy forgot he can't swim, as established on the burning island, and tried anyhow.
Seeying how every lifeguard is preoccupied wooing pretty coeds and no one else can be bothered, it's left up to April to safe drowning Willy, who's now 50 meters into sea, and 100 meters away along the beach.
April, who is standing 50 meters from the sea, can run at about 9 m/s on the beach and swim at 2.25 m/s.
What is the fastest route she can take to reach Willy, and how long will it take her.
(beach) | (sea)
| ~ ~
| ~
| ~ \0/ (drowning Willy)
| ~ | ~
| ~ (50, 100)
| ~ ~
| ~
(April) | ~ ~
0 | ~ ~
/|\ | ~
|\ | ~
/ | | ~
(-50,0)
(don't mock my 1337 ascii-skills)
hint: It's easy when you see the equivalent physics problem
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| « Last Edit: Apr 10th, 2003, 1:33pm by towr » |
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BNC
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Re: rescue
« Reply #1 on: Apr 10th, 2003, 1:52pm » |
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I get about 32.62 sec by walking 87.09m on the beach, then swim to save our beloved leader
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How about supercalifragilisticexpialidociouspuzzler [Towr, 2007]
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Chronos
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Re: rescue
« Reply #2 on: Apr 10th, 2003, 5:10pm » |
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Re the hint: There's still some annoying trig/algebra to wade through, but that formula does at least give you something to plug numbers into and turn the crank.
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Icarus
wu::riddles Moderator
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Re: rescue
« Reply #3 on: Apr 10th, 2003, 5:51pm » |
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What I want to know about your 1337 ascii skills is why it is that the [ pre ] tag gave you fixed-width spacing, but when I tried, I finally had to give up and fill the background with periods!
About the hint, yes, Snell's Law is easier, but the calculus of variations is so much more fun! 
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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towr
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Some people are average, some are just mean.
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Re: rescue
« Reply #4 on: Apr 10th, 2003, 10:58pm » |
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To get [pre] to work, post, modify, repost unchanged. For some reason it works. Preview doesn't help btw.
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aero_guy
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Re: rescue
« Reply #5 on: Apr 11th, 2003, 8:44am » |
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I have also noticed when you have an odd ASCII mess, it seems to fix itself, or at least change, when you hit reload.
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BNC
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Re: rescue
« Reply #6 on: Apr 11th, 2003, 11:01am » |
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on Apr 10th, 2003, 5:51pm, Icarus wrote:
...but the calculus of variations is so much more fun! |
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Why calculus of variations? I think a simple differentiation is enough here, No?
PS: I made a small error in my prev post, it should be 34.1sec -- probably another error... 
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How about supercalifragilisticexpialidociouspuzzler [Towr, 2007]
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Icarus
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Boldly going where even angels fear to tread.
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Re: rescue
« Reply #7 on: Apr 11th, 2003, 3:36pm » |
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on Apr 11th, 2003, 11:01am, BNC wrote:| Why calculus of variations? I think a simple differentiation is enough here, No? |
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Well sure, if you want to go off and assume that the fastest way to get the water is a straight line. But hey, if you are going to ignore Snell's Law, you might as well go after it whole hog, and throw that "shortest distance is a straight line" bit too...  Besides, that simple differentiation is an application of the calculus of variations! 
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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aero_guy
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Re: rescue
« Reply #8 on: Apr 12th, 2003, 2:09pm » |
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You could write a riddle that would require it. Instead of shore/beach it could be a swamp. The farther east you got the slower your rate. The answer would depend upon how you defined your rate changing in different parts of the swamp.
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