About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Airport Quiz

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?
 

15 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. OK. 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.

    Its 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.

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  3. Doug, take your pick. It doesn't matter what the choice is.

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    Replies
    1. How did you figure? PS - it does make a difference.

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    2. Doug, as I interpret the quiz, time is of no essence. That is why I responded the way I did.
      But 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.

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  4. 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.

    Of course if it were me, I would just suck it up and keep walking and tie my shoe after i got to the gate!

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  5. I would say makes no difference. However, I have spent so much time at airports and still don't know what I am doing!!!

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    Replies
    1. How did you determine that it makes no difference where the shoe is tied?

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    2. Same amount of time to tie, walking in tandem with the walkers. Is that correct?

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  6. Mathematically - 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.

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  7. The 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.

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  8. That 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 ....?

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  9. It 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.

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  10. You tie your shoe while on the walkway, you will be moving at the same time. That's it.

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