Even though it was now middle of winter, Jack hauled out his ladder and placed his ladder against the side of the house and began to climb. He had some bad luck when he reached the half-way point. The ground was a frozen sheet of ice and the base of his ladder slipped out and the top slid down the side of the house. Jack, clinging to the center rung, wound up moving from Point A on the side of his house to Point B on the ground.

Describe the path Jack traveled.

|\
| \
|  \
|   \
|    J
|   /|\
|  / | \ 
| /  |  \ 
|/___|___\

Notice that the path from Jack to where the wall meets the floor is always the same length, so his path will be part of a circle (if only he could fall through the ground and the wall, then he would make a full trip circle)

Edited on July 27, 2004, 11:34 am

Posted by Gamer on 2004-07-27 11:21:19