All about flooble | fun stuff | Get a free chatterbox | Free JavaScript | Avatars    
perplexus dot info

Home > Logic
Lion and Tamer (Posted on 2013-06-10) Difficulty: 4 of 5
A lion and a lion tamer are enclosed within a circular cage. If they move at the same speed but are both restricted by the cage, can the lion catch the lion tamer? (Represent the cage by a circle, and the lion and lion tamer as two point masses within it.)

No Solution Yet Submitted by Danish Ahmed Khan    
Rating: 4.0000 (1 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Outsmarting the tamer Comment 7 of 7 |
If the tamer insists on running in a predictable way around the circle the lion can plot an intercept course rather than heading straight for the tamer.  For example the the lion and tamer were both at the edge of the cage with a separation of 90(1-2√2/π)≈8.97 degrees the lion could head straight for a point exactly 1/4 of the way around.

The slight problem here is that the lion will, for a time, increase his distance from the tamer.  This means an intelligent tamer could double back and the lion would be forced to respond.

The lion could use this idea to trap the tamer within a portion of the cage.  Unfortunately the time required to shrink the portion to zero with a zig-zagging tamer is infinite.

  Posted by Jer on 2013-06-11 14:22:02
Please log in:
Login:
Password:
Remember me:
Sign up! | Forgot password


Search:
Search body:
Forums (0)
Newest Problems
Random Problem
FAQ | About This Site
Site Statistics
New Comments (8)
Unsolved Problems
Top Rated Problems
This month's top
Most Commented On

Chatterbox:
Copyright © 2002 - 2024 by Animus Pactum Consulting. All rights reserved. Privacy Information