RE: Maths problem to solve
October 22, 2016 at 12:57 am
(This post was last modified: October 22, 2016 at 12:58 am by Whateverist.)
Aractus Wrote:(October 21, 2016 at 10:23 pm)Whateverist Wrote: I must not be understanding the question. After one second the ant travels 1 cm but the distance left for him to travel increases from 100 cm to 199 cm. After two seconds, he will have traveled 2 cm but now has 298 cm left to go. How could the ant ever finish if there are no restraints on the capacity of the band to keep on stretching. Since the length of band left for the ant to travel will always be greater than before, how can we talk of him ever completing the band?
Since no mention is made of the space available for the band to stretch I have no idea if that is a consideration, but I assume not. What am I missing?
You're not missing anything, but you have incorrectly calculated the distance. After 1 second the ant travels 1cm, leaving him 99cm to go, and you stretch the elastic band to 2m. The distance in front of the ant is now 198cm (double), and the distance behind the ant is now 2cm. The he walks another cm, leaving him 197cm to go, and you stretch the elastic band to 3m. The distance in front of him is now 295.5cm, and the distance behind him now 4.5cm. So you can see the distance left to go is not quite as far as you thought (298cm).
Again please see my hint - construct a series that describes the distance the ant travels after n seconds accurately.
I see, it doesn't simply tack on another meter. Instead it stretches the entire band evenly, including the portion already traveled. Got it. Thanks.
