[Guest]

Found this puzzle somewhere else. Searched here, and didnt find --

A bookworm eats from the first page of this encyclopedia to the last page in a straight line. The encyclopedia consists of ten 1000-page volumes and is sitting on a bookshelf in the usual order. Not counting the covers/title pages, how many pages does the bookworm eat through?

[HoustonHokie]

I'm guessing 5000 - double sided printing...

[Guest]

4002 or 8002

Edited August 13, 2009 by sid2

[plainglazed]

am thinking at most 5010? if each of the ten with the first page on the verso and so the last page on the recto.

Edited August 13, 2009 by plainglazed

[Guest]

1 page from Vol I + 8,000 + 1 page from Vol X = 8,002. Well-known puzzle.

[Guest]

I hadn't seen this one before.

10000

But after reading the answers I tried to think why nobody elese thought the same. Thinking carefully,

8001

.

[Guest]

It all depends on whether you include the first page of Vol I and/or the last page of Vol X. The problem was always ambiguous on this issue.

Edited August 13, 2009 by jerbil

[Guest]

about 10,020 or so

[Guest]

Unless I'm missing something obvious in the wording, the answer is

5000 pages. Or at least something close to that...but I don't know where people are getting answers like 8000 or anything that large. Each volume having "Page 1" on the right as all books do, page 2 on the backside, which means the first piece of paper he eats through will be pages 1/2. 3/4 will be the 2nd actual piece of paper eaten through, up to 999/1000 being the 500th page eaten through. 10 volumes...5000 papers. Unless you're counting by page number and not pieces of paper, theres no way to get 8000 pages

Edited August 14, 2009 by Steeleman23

[Guest]

Unless I'm missing something obvious in the wording, the answer is

5000 pages. Or at least something close to that...but I don't know where people are getting answers like 8000 or anything that large. Each volume having "Page 1" on the right as all books do, page 2 on the backside, which means the first piece of paper he eats through will be pages 1/2. 3/4 will be the 2nd actual piece of paper eaten through, up to 999/1000 being the 500th page eaten through. 10 volumes...5000 papers. Unless you're counting by page number and not pieces of paper, theres no way to get 8000 pages

Well, I see where you guys are coming from with your higher numbered answers...

So as for 8000, or 8002 or anything like that, you're assuming the bookworm is magically appearing inbetween volumes one and two because that's where "page 1" of volume 1 is located, then eating his way into volume 2 from there having no place to exist while he starts eating his way. But even still, it depends how you're talking about pages being eaten through. From the standpoint of how many pages will be ruined of the encyclopedia, it'd be 8000, but if it's how much paper will the worm have to ingest, it's only 4000 pages (or add two if you're including the aforementioned first/last pages).

Edited August 14, 2009 by Steeleman23

[Guest]

This all demonstrates how accurately one must phrase one's problem when posting!

Probably one of the best side-effects of this site.