In a draft I'm writing, I'm including a classic puzzle as a demonstrative example. But I should let my readers have a try first!
There is an ant on a rubber band. The ant is crawling from one end of the rubber band towards the other at 1 inch per second. The rubber band is one foot long, but getting longer. After each second, the rubber band's length grows by one foot.
Question: Will the ant ever reach the other side of the rubber band?
(It's an infinitely stretchy rubber band, and the ant lives infinitely long. Since I am a physicist, I will not worry about whether the rubber band is stretching instantaneously every second or stretching continuously. Just assume whichever you prefer.)
You have less than a week to solve this one. Bonus points if you can predict what my draft is about.
(solution contained here)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
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