Posted by T.Gracken on November 05, 2002 at 17:02:37:
In Reply to: trip problem posted by RD on November 04, 2002 at 13:43:41:
: This is apparently from an old walk and bike puzzle:
: 2 girls and a guy want to travel 200 miles on a straight path.
: All 3 are together, and have one bike.
: The girls walk at 2mph, bike at 24mph.
: The guy walks at 9mph, bikes at 44mph.
: Only one can use the bike at a given time.
: What is the minimum time in which they can all
: get to the 200 mile point, and how do they do it?
: I've been trying this for a while but can't get anywhere.
: Can someone help, please.
this problem is going to take more thought than I really want to use... so here's a little outline I believe may be the key.
since the girls walk slow, they need to use the bike as much as possible.
from beginning to end, start with one girl on bike.
after a certain distance (or time) she will leave bike on ground and walk.
guy will find bike before second girl and will ride it back to second girl.
second girl will ride for certain distance and leave bike.
now, either first girl finds bike and rides or guy finds bike and takes it back to trailing girl.
continue/repeat/etc...
good luck. As I said, other than this, I don't want to think that hard today.