Today's Puzzle - Finally how far he is from his camp and in which direction?

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A soldier looses his way in a thick jungle. At random he walks from his camp but

mathematically in an interesting fashion.

First he walks one mile East then half mile to North. Then 1/4 mile to West, then

1/8 mile to South and so on making a loop.

Finally how far he is from his camp and in which direction?

Answer

The soldier is 0.8944 miles away from his camp towards East-North.

It is obvious that he is in East-North direction.

Distance travelled in North and South directions

= 1/2 - 1/8 + 1/32 - 1/128 + 1/512 - 1/2048 + and so on... (a geometric series with

r = (-1/4) )

(1/2) * ( 1 - (-1/4)n )

= ---------------------------

( 1 - (-1/4) )

= 1 / ( 2 * ( 1 - (-1/4) ) )

= 2/5

Similarly in East and West directions

= 1 - 1/4 + 1/16 - 1/64 + 1/256 - and so on... (a geometric series with r = (-1/4) )

(1) * ( 1 - (-1/4)n )

= ---------------------------

( 1 - (-1/4) )

= 1 / ( ( 1- (-1/4) )

= 4/5

So the soldier is 4/5 miles away towards East and 2/5 miles away towards North.

So using right angled triangle, soldier is 0.8944 miles away from his camp.