click on graphic to enlarge Although I saw the subject quiz on the National Museum of Mathematics website (www.MoMath.org), after it appeared in the WSJ, it really has little to do with math & a lot to do with reasoning & common sense.
I think just about the entire readership will find it enjoyable & just a little bit challenging.
Please let me know your answer – I will post all correct answers or alternatively will send the solution privately to anyone who requests it if no one figures it out.
Airport Quiz
As a ticketed passenger walks to their gate in the airport they realize they have to stop for 30 seconds to tie their shoe. A moving walkway is in view ahead of them. The passenger walks @ a constant speed relative to the ground or walkway when they are walking.
Should they tie their shoe before getting on the walkway, wait to tie their shoe while on the walkway, or does it matter in getting to the gate @ the earliest time?
I would get on the walkway then tie my shoe, will get to the gate 30 seconds sooner then stopping before the walkway to tie the lace in the shoe.
ReplyDeleteJR is the first to get it.
DeleteOK. You know I got D's in Algebra and Geometry in high school and avoided math in college. I did OK in Logic in college tho.
ReplyDeleteIts quicker to tie your shoe on the walkway. Assume it takes a total of 4 minutes to reach the gate, 2 minutes (120 sec) walking, 2 minutes (120 sec) walking on the walkway. If you tie the shoe before, the total will be 4 1/2 minutes or 270 seconds. You are traveling twice the speed on the walkway.
Tying your shoe means you travel the equivalent of 15 seconds (1/2 speed in the 30 seconds needed to tie). You get off the walkway another 105 seconds later. Total time 255 seconds. Any movement is better than none. Even in life.
Doug, take your pick. It doesn't matter what the choice is.
ReplyDeleteHow did you figure? PS - it does make a difference.
DeleteDoug, as I interpret the quiz, time is of no essence. That is why I responded the way I did.
DeleteBut if time did matter, then, tying the shoe laces on the walkway would deliver the passenger at the fastest time to the gate. The passenger would ride and simultaneously walk on the walkway thus doubling the speed of his or her travel.
This looks like a common sense answer to me and less about math. Those are the quizzes that scare me though because I am always sure I missed something obvious. Having said that I think it looks like it makes no difference. No matter where you stop to tie your shoe you are going to lose 30 seconds of travel time. Assuming here that if you do not tie your shoe on the moving sidewalk you can walk and gain time. So, anyway you slice it you lose 30 seconds of time by tying your shoe.
ReplyDeleteOf course if it were me, I would just suck it up and keep walking and tie my shoe after i got to the gate!
I would say makes no difference. However, I have spent so much time at airports and still don't know what I am doing!!!
ReplyDeleteHow did you determine that it makes no difference where the shoe is tied?
DeleteSame amount of time to tie, walking in tandem with the walkers. Is that correct?
DeleteMathematically - tie it on the moving walkway so that you keep moving while idle. Practically - please move somewhere completely out of the way to tie your shoe, not on the walkway, because you're almost positively in other people's way.
ReplyDeleteThe writer of the quiz provided the following answer to the quiz: "You should tie your shoe on the walkway. On the walkway, you spend the 30 seconds it takes tying your shoe making the progress of the walkway. Off the walkway you make no progress." Seems straight forward enough.
ReplyDeleteThat quiz caused quite a discussion. Had he passed through security - if not wait to tie the shoe. Some thought by tying it first would help. Others thought walking quickly on the moving walk would be faster then tie the shoe. Most thought it didn’t matter. And the answer is ....?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that, if using the walkway takes 30 seconds, then it doesn't matter where shoe is tied. If using the walkway take less than 30 seconds, shoe can be tied before or after using the walkway. If using the walkway takes more than 30 seconds, shoe should be tied on the walkway.
ReplyDeleteYou tie your shoe while on the walkway, you will be moving at the same time. That's it.
ReplyDelete