Sunday, December 6, 2009

Hokey Pokey Around the Globe

You take a mile hike South, then take a mile hike East, end with a mile hike North and find yourself at the starting spot. Where could you be on the globe? There are at least two answers.

Please explain your answer on our Family Puzzle Marathon site. Solve three puzzles and get a prize!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

North/South Pole?
-Rachel T

Maria said...

North pole would work.
But South pole - how do you go South from there?

Second solution is still for grabs.

Claire said...

Just taking a stab... maybe the second location is 1 mile north of the south pole? Probably not, but it was worth a shot

Maria said...

You are very close to the solution, Claire.
But going East from the South pole is a bit difficult.

Wang said...

There's actually a ton of spots you could be at. Imagine being on a spot somewhere near the North Pole, you hike one mile south so you end up on the other side of the North Pole, do one mile east (which ends up going around the globe once, back to where you started on the other side of the North Pole) and then hiking one mile north back to your starting point.

You can start anywhere on this 'circle' and still end up on the original starting point following the directions.

Maria said...

Hey W!
I am not sure about the sides of the North Pole. If you are close to a North Pole and going South, you would not be crossing the Pole to the other side. You would be heading in the direction toward equator.
But the "going East around the globe and coming where you started" is brilliant!

Wang said...

Ah you're right, I thought it would work the same way in the Northern Hemisphere but this is in the Southern Hemisphere. Let me clarify:

If you are on a circle in the Southern Hemisphere (parallel to the equator and between the equator and the South Pole) and you travel one mile south to another circle that is also parallel to the equator, then when you travel east one mile, you do a full circle around, you can then travel one mile north back up to your original starting point.

Anywhere on this circle one mile north of the circle you travel around can do this.

Maybe I just confused myself (and others) further heh.

There are also similar points where you travel around the globe exactly twice, exactly three times, etc. (all these starting points can be found by traveling one mile north of those circles)

Maria said...

And that is absolutely correct!
Both - Rachel T and W get another puzzle point.
W - please email me your address so that I can send you the prize. Contact info is below.
New puzzle tomorrow.

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