SOLUTION TO GUIDO'S PROBLEM:
Diagram 1
We first note that since the sound of Guido's voice
took three times as long to reach buddy B as buddy A, buddy B is THREE
times as far from Guido as buddy A. Since buddy A is approximately
100 yards from Guido, this means that buddy B is approximately 300 yards
from Guido. We can now apply the Pythagorean theorem to determine
if the distance between buddy A and buddy B (the hypotenuse of our right
triangle, which we designate as Z below):
1002
+ 3002 = Z2,
so that
10,000 + 90,000 = Z2,
or
100,000 = Z2.
Solving for Z, we find
316.23 yards = Z (rounded to 2 decimal places).
Hence,
buddy B DOES in fact have enough fuel to save buddy A, and Guido and his
friends will all happily have the chance to tempt the lava pits again!
Click
on one of the links below to go to other locations in this website.