Reply
Sun 29 Feb, 2004 08:54 am
The Indians, (of India not America), being curious in a mathematical sense, once wove a piece of string long enough to travel all around the world. They passed it around the equator and positioned people all along the length of it, many in boats . At a given signal they all lifted the piece of string exactly one foot above the ground.
If we make the approximations that the Earth is perfectly spherical with a radius of 4000miles and absolutely flat at the equator, and that the string was inextensible and remained taught between hands with no sagging, how much more string did they need to complete the loop after they had all picked it up?
Now for the fun of it I suggest you make a guess immediately then put your brain to work to calculate the correct answer, or wait for a posted solution!
Marts
String around the world.
The circumference of a circle is 2 x pi x r, where r is the radius of the circle. If you want the string that is one foot above the ground, this radius is larger by one foot. Let R be this new radius. So R = r + 1.
Let x be the amount of extra rope required.
So: x = (2 x pi x (r + 1)) - (2 x pi x r) x = (2 x pi x r) + (2 x pi) - (2 x pi x r) x = 2 x pi
So x is about 2.0944 feet.
Scarborough for the cup. :wink:
Tryagain - I think you have it
Scarborough for the cup???
Kindly explain to a Sheffield Wednesday fan what you mean?
Marts :wink:
I always thought pi was approx. 3.14 so how can 2pi = 2.0944 feet?
Marts wrote:Tryagain - I think you have it
Scarborough for the cup???
Kindly explain to a Sheffield Wednesday fan what you mean?
Marts :wink:
What Tryagain means Marts is that if Scarborough Town win the F.A. cup he will purchase Malta and give it to you for christmas.
I would also like to extend that offer, if Leeds United win the cup I will buy Malta and give it to you for christmas.
kev wrote:Marts wrote:Tryagain - I think you have it
Scarborough for the cup???
Kindly explain to a Sheffield Wednesday fan what you mean?
Marts :wink:
What Tryagain means Marts is that if Scarborough Town win the F.A. cup he will purchase Malta and give it to you for christmas.
I would also like to extend that offer, if Leeds United win the cup I will buy Malta and give it to you for christmas.
Me thinks Leeds United may well be made an offer by a certain Kernal (nut) k daftie from a place called Libya
Marts
The amount of extra rope needed is the same as it would be if we were talking about a tennis ball instead of the globe. See:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/a2k-topic134.html
Marts said:
Me thinks Leeds United may well be made an offer by a certain Kernal (nut) k daftie from a place called Libya
WHAT?
kev wrote:Marts said:
Me thinks Leeds United may well be made an offer by a certain Kernal (nut) k daftie from a place called Libya
WHAT?
Strong possibility Kev - serious
Marts
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace