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        riddles >> microsoft >> Moving Bus Direction
        
(Message started by: eviljed on Aug 5^th, 2002, 11:11am)

Title: Moving Bus Direction
Post by eviljed on Aug 5^th, 2002, 11:11am

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I tried to put the bus here. Hopefully it will still look somewhat like a bus. Anyway, there are no overly aparent signs on the bus' direction (which would be directly related to what side of the bus is the front) since the bus is completely symetrical. The only way to solve this is to determine what side of the bus you are looking at. Thus, you get the solution. The side of the bus shown does not have a door. We are assuming that this bus drives on the right side of the road (aka, drives using american driving rules). Therefore, the door should be on the right side of the bus as to allow people to get on it at bus stops and whatnot. This makes for the assumption that the bus is a standard bus with the door on the front. If the bus were going to the right, then there would be a door on the right side of the bus in the picture. Since this is not the case, it must be assumed that the door is on the other side of the bus, on the left side, and that the bus is going left.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Archon on Aug 7^th, 2002, 12:54am

If this is a trick question, then the most likely answer is that it's not moving, it's a stationary image.
On the other hand, if this is not intended as a trick question, then I think you need to ask one question. The choice of question is probably not important, but may be "at which end is the driver sitting?", or "are the wheels that I can see turning clockwise or counterclockwise?".

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by pqlier on Aug 7^th, 2002, 9:26am

Eviljed's diagram clearly shows that the bus in question has come into violent contact with a heavy stationary object on the left side of the frame. Therefore, I surmise that immediately prior, it was indeed travelling leftward, and at quite high speed.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Ryan Fisher on Aug 8^th, 2002, 10:20am

Eviljed is almost correct (not withstanding the mangled bus he posted that looks like the bus left over from the movie Speed.

The bus is definitely facing towards the left side.

But you need to ask if the bus is moving in forward or reverse. After that you know which way the bus is moving.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Scott on Aug 8^th, 2002, 3:14pm

There's no driver window, no mirrors, and no door...so I must assume I'm looking at the back of the bus (greyhound?). My monitor is on the left hand side of my desk; therefore, the bus is moving "forward" to the left.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by william wu on Aug 10^th, 2002, 1:13pm

on 08/08/02 at 10:20:21, Ryan Fisher wrote:

But you need to ask if the bus is moving in forward or reverse. After that you know which way the bus is moving.

The problem statement says: "The bus is moving forward."

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by AzNbOi on Aug 11^th, 2002, 11:14pm

Just ask which side the exhaust is located (never heard of an exhaust coming out from the front) 8)

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Henaki on Aug 23^rd, 2002, 2:10am

Ask if the wheels are moving clockwise or counter-clockwise from your point of view.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Mr_Superstar on Aug 31^st, 2002, 5:29pm

One of my friends says:

"Neither, it's moving forward in time."

Another one said:

"You should move the paper to the right and say "it's moving this way"".

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by James Fingas on Sep 5^th, 2002, 12:51pm

AAAAH!

It's coming right towards me!!!

(throws hands in air and runs out of the interview)

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by jeremiahsmith on Sep 6^th, 2002, 10:11am

Just do like the ancient Greeks and say that it's not moving at all, and that movement is just an illusion. :D

After all, if you look at it with smaller and smaller time increments, eventually you'll get to a point where it's not moving at all during that time. So it moves zero distance, and if you sum up all those infinite zero distances, you have zero distance still, so the bus isn't moving.

QED.

(Maybe you'd get credit for knowing what the Greeks thought of motion...)

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by James Fingas on Sep 6^th, 2002, 11:15am

East.

Just like everything else ;)

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by James Fingas on Sep 6^th, 2002, 11:24am

Answer: That is not a bus. It is just a picture of a bus. An infant may identify a picture of an apple by saying "apple", but the picture does possess all properties of an apple (eg. edibility).

The "bus" is not a bus, and cannot move. Therefore, its direction of motion is undefined.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by James Fingas on Sep 6^th, 2002, 11:35am

Whichever way it's moving--we've got to stop that bus!
It's got no tires!

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Bendy on Nov 14^th, 2002, 8:14pm

It is moving away from me, into the page. The circles are the backs of the heads of the kids making a ruckus on the back seat.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by TimMann on Nov 15^th, 2002, 7:46pm

It's moving up and down as I fiddle with the scroll bar on this window. ;D

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by jon G on Dec 1^st, 2002, 12:00pm

The bus is moving, because if it slows down it will blow up(speed) and look worse than the diagram.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by josh on Dec 17^th, 2002, 1:01am

1. If you're allowed to ask any questions, ask "Which way is the bus moving, to the right or to the left?"

2. Busses do not move sideways, busses move forwards and backwards. This bus is moving forwards, as stated.

The door, yes... hmf.
Of course, most busses are not symmetrical even from their left side, so maybe the door was just another detail omitted.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Tore on Jan 1^st, 2003, 7:04am

The perspective indicates we are looking at the bus from the far side of the road (or else we would have been inside a building), consequently it moves to the left.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by hemanth on Jan 2^nd, 2003, 2:05am

the busis moving towards right

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Om on Feb 13^th, 2003, 12:01am

Ask, in which direction is the wind around the bus is moving. Usually, as the wind pierces through the wind, it gets displaced and moves in the direction opposite to the bus is moving...

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by aero_guy on Feb 16^th, 2003, 7:57am

you mean wind relative to the bus? Otherwise the bus drags air along with it, so same direction.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Alex Wright on Mar 3^rd, 2003, 8:57pm

Don't You all see, Thats a picture of the windshield, the circles are the passengers heads. Its simple, whoever it was that said it was heading towards them is right, because if -- assuming that its a real bus and not JUST a picture-- it is moving forward then it is heading straight toward you. The reason that the circles go inward to the middle is because of perspective. I think that you college guys should start to think outside the box, I'm a grade ten student, FROM CANADA!

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by mistysakura on Apr 15^th, 2003, 10:06pm

It is moving the same way planet Earth is moving. ;)

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by TheReverend on Apr 22^nd, 2003, 8:02pm

Someone mentioned ask where the driver is sitting. This is good, but the bus design could have the driver sitting at the back of the bus. A better answer would be which way is the driver facing. You could go further to ask if he uses mirrors to look in the direction of the bus moving forward. Another good way is to check which way the wheels are spinning.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by rmsgrey on Apr 23^rd, 2003, 10:41pm

I'm another one for the "ask which way the bus is moving" school...

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by mcrumiller on Jul 31^st, 2003, 7:35am

For people that looove to be picky, even the "which direction are the wheels spinning?" question could be misleading. Nothing says we aren't in on some alien planet wherein the wheels of the buses are located directly underneath the road (which would be some thin yet strong material) and connect to the bottom side of the ride via a strong adhesive. The wheels would be attached by their tops, and thus a clockwise rotation would move the bus left as opposed to right.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Icarus on Jul 31^st, 2003, 3:55pm

Redmond may be strange, but I don't think it really qualifies as "alien". But then, if Microsoft were put in charge of designing a bus, that might be how they would go about it! ;)

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Badr on Oct 30^th, 2003, 1:00pm

If the bus is moving fast enough, the direction the wheels appear to be spinning could be misleading, even with a non-alien wheel/road interface. Think of how helicopter blades appear to change directions as they spin faster and faster. It has to do with the frequency our eyes send an image to the brain. I guess I would look at the faces in the windows...

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by TimMann on Nov 3^rd, 2003, 12:48am

on 10/30/03 at 13:00:20, Badr wrote:

Think of how helicopter blades appear to change directions as they spin faster and faster. It has to do with the frequency our eyes send an image to the brain.

No. That's something you see only when you watch a helicopter on TV or in the movies, not in real life. It's a stroboscopic effect that has to do with the frequency with which images are presented to you on the screen (24 per second in the movies, 30 or 25 per second on TV depending on what country you live in). Your eyes themselves don't send images to your brain at any particular frequency.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Icarus on Nov 3^rd, 2003, 10:04am

Ummm... TimMann, have you ever looked at the wheels of other vehicles on the road while you are riding along at the same speed? Do it the next time you are riding as a passenger, and you will notice that most mag wheels give the illusion of turning backwards - without a TV, or movie, or strobelight.

I have always assumed the explanation Badr gave was responsible for this.

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by TimMann on Nov 4^th, 2003, 10:57pm

Last time I looked, wheels of fast-moving vehicles looked like an even blur to me under natural light. I'll look again, though. Are you sure you weren't looking at night on a highway lighted by mercury or sodium vapor lamps that pulse at 60 Hz?

The human brain and visual system is not entirely analog, but largely it is. I'm quite sure it doesn't run off a global clock that could produce a stroboscopic effect within the visual system itself. You only get one if you have pulsed illumination.

(The usual caveats about talking outside one's field apply here, of course.)

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by towr on Nov 5^th, 2003, 1:51am

Well, in a a sense there is a 'clock'. The problem with our eyes is that if we keep them perfectly still, looking at a fized scene, we stop seeing anything in no time. (You can literally stare yourself blind if you try hard enough, though you'll see again as soon as you move your eyes.) To remedy this our eyes constantly 'vibrate' slightly, which might work as a sort of sampling frequency, but I'm not sure of it..

Title: Re: Moving Bus Direction
Post by Icarus on Nov 5^th, 2003, 4:08pm

I see it all the time in broad daylight. However the strobing effect is generated, it is entirely natural, and not a result of varying illumination.