Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 11:51:01 -0500 
From: Canh Hoang Tran <ct2r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: [MATH] 37-years-old puzzle

Date: Sat,  9 Jan 1993 16:40:33 -0500 (EST)
From: Canh Hoang Tran <ct2r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: Outbound News <outnews+netnews.soc.culture.vietnamese@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject:37-years-old puzzle
Cc: Canh Hoang Tran <ct2r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
 
In late 30's, Dick Davis, who was a young writer-photographer living
with a wife and baby daughter in a village near Concord, Mass, came upon
a modest problem in the letters column of Popular Science magazine:
    
    "Have enjoyed monkeying with the problems you print, for the last
couple of years.  Here's one that may make the boys scratch their heads
a little: A man always drives at the same speed (his car probably has a
governor on it).  He makes it from A direct to C in 30 minures; from A
through B to C in 35 minutes; and from A through D to C in 40 minutes. 
How fast does he drive?
                                                D.R.C., Sacramento, Calif."
.______________________._______________________________________________.
|  A *                 |  Description: To complete the figure,         |
|                      |               connect AB,AC,AD.               |
|                      |               BC=DC=10 mi.                    |
|                  |B  |               DC perpendicular to BC.         |
|                  |   |-----------------------------------------------|
|                  |   |               Please convert the unit of your |
|                  |   |               answer to MPH                   |
|        __________|   |               (or miles-per-hour), one of the |
|        D         C   |               unit of velocity of the car.    |
|______________________|_______________________________________________|
 
37 years later, Dick Davis wrote to letters column of Popular Science
magazine that the solution for that puzzle had never posted. Concluding
his letter, he challenged Popular Science magazine's reader to come up
with such a solution; and finally, 8 months later, Popular Science
posted 5 solutions for the 37-years-old-puzzle.
 
Well, it sounds like an interesting math story, I guess that it would
stimulate you to try to solve the puzzle. If you do, send the result, or
solution, comments, whatever to the following Email address:
ct2r+@andrew.cmu.edu, or netnews.soc.culture.vietnamese
 

************************************************************** Canh Tran.
How to contact me? 
Please use Finger and type in:-->ct2r+@andrew.cmu.edu<--
R.W.Emerson:"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm"
**************************************************************
************************************************************** Canh Tran.
How to contact me? 
Please use Finger and type in:-->ct2r+@andrew.cmu.edu<--
R.W.Emerson:"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm"
**************************************************************
************************************************************** Canh Tran.
How to contact me? 
Please use Finger and type in:-->ct2r+@andrew.cmu.edu<--
R.W.Emerson:"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm"
**************************************************************
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU