Consider a road with two cars, at a distance of 100 kilometres, driving towards each other. The left car drives at a speed of forty kilometers per hour and the right car at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour. A plane starts at the same location as the right car and flies at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. When it reaches the left car it turns its direction, and when it reaches the right car it turns its direction again to the opposite, etcetera.
The Question: What is the total distance that the plane has traveled at the moment that the two cars have reached each other?
It would take the two cars 1 hour to reach each other.
ReplyDeleteThe plane would go 80 kilometers, unless you count the fact that it would slow down in order to turn.
I feel like that's way too easy, though.
Nope, that's it. This is one of those problems people could spend hours on, but it turns out it was pretty strait forward. But only if you think about it in a different way.
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