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Guest Message by DevFuse

Classic - Ant and Honey problem

Started by ujjagrawal, Jun 12 2012 11:51 AM

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22 replies to this topic

#21 bhramarraj

Advanced Member

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234 posts

Posted 13 June 2012 - 10:37 AM

I undersatnd you people had got the answer... you are real genuises... but I would like to put here again explanation for others...

Spoiler for

If the ant crawls 1 inch down, then 30 inches across the bottom, then 11 inches up, it will travel 42 inches. But this is not the shortest distance. The solution is found by unfolding the box and then finding the shortest path between the ant and the honey. There are actually 4 ways to "flatten" the box (shown here). But only one method corresponds to the the shortest distance as follows:

The 4th figure corresponds to correct answer: sqrt(32² + 24²) = 4 sqrt(8² + 6²) = 4 x 10 = 40.