perplexus.info :: Geometry : Getting Nowhere

Getting Nowhere (Posted on 2018-07-02)

There is this old chestnut: "A man walks a mile South, a mile East, and a mile North and ends up right back where he started. Where did he start?"
Aside from the timeworn singular point answer, give another answer that includes a countably infinite number of sets, each containing an uncountably infinite number of points that satisfy the problem. (Assume a smooth spherical globe, and no tricks.)

Submitted by Steven Lord

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Solution: (Hide)

The points 1 mile North of the latitude circles around the South Pole. Namely, circles of circumference 1 mile, 1/2 mile, 1/3 mile,...
(When posed this as a kid, I imagined the wire apparatus sometimes found in kits for dipping Easter Eggs)

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	Subject	Author	Date
	solution	Larry	2018-07-02 08:48:51

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