Let's play tag!
$begingroup$
I have a short and bitter-sweet riddle for the community this evening. As always, I hope you enjoy it; good luck!
I want to play a game of tag; however, there are some very important rules:
- We both start at the same point.
- Each turn you take one step.
- Each turn I double the number of steps I take.
- We travel in a straight line.
- We both take one initial step.
- Our game is played on an infinite plane
- All steps are forwards, never backwards.
Can you tag me?
Please explain your answer.
riddle knowledge
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I have a short and bitter-sweet riddle for the community this evening. As always, I hope you enjoy it; good luck!
I want to play a game of tag; however, there are some very important rules:
- We both start at the same point.
- Each turn you take one step.
- Each turn I double the number of steps I take.
- We travel in a straight line.
- We both take one initial step.
- Our game is played on an infinite plane
- All steps are forwards, never backwards.
Can you tag me?
Please explain your answer.
riddle knowledge
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Can paths be different? Will you try your best not to get caught, or will you take a path where you can get caught?
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@KradCigol I've updated my post to clarify this question and another.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I have a short and bitter-sweet riddle for the community this evening. As always, I hope you enjoy it; good luck!
I want to play a game of tag; however, there are some very important rules:
- We both start at the same point.
- Each turn you take one step.
- Each turn I double the number of steps I take.
- We travel in a straight line.
- We both take one initial step.
- Our game is played on an infinite plane
- All steps are forwards, never backwards.
Can you tag me?
Please explain your answer.
riddle knowledge
$endgroup$
I have a short and bitter-sweet riddle for the community this evening. As always, I hope you enjoy it; good luck!
I want to play a game of tag; however, there are some very important rules:
- We both start at the same point.
- Each turn you take one step.
- Each turn I double the number of steps I take.
- We travel in a straight line.
- We both take one initial step.
- Our game is played on an infinite plane
- All steps are forwards, never backwards.
Can you tag me?
Please explain your answer.
riddle knowledge
riddle knowledge
edited 1 hour ago
PerpetualJ
asked 3 hours ago
PerpetualJPerpetualJ
3,904544
3,904544
$begingroup$
Can paths be different? Will you try your best not to get caught, or will you take a path where you can get caught?
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@KradCigol I've updated my post to clarify this question and another.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Can paths be different? Will you try your best not to get caught, or will you take a path where you can get caught?
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@KradCigol I've updated my post to clarify this question and another.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Can paths be different? Will you try your best not to get caught, or will you take a path where you can get caught?
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Can paths be different? Will you try your best not to get caught, or will you take a path where you can get caught?
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@KradCigol I've updated my post to clarify this question and another.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@KradCigol I've updated my post to clarify this question and another.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
The answer is:
Yes. Either A tags B before the game starts,
or
A's steps are twice as long as B's, and so tag occurs at the end of round 1.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Very good attempt, but note the knowledge tag. :) +1 for taking the same route my daughter tries every time! HAHA
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The answer is
Yes.
We can do this because:
Geometry. If we were on a plane, you would escape, but if we were on a non-Euclidean surface (like a torus or a sphere) you would come up to me from behind and I could tag you. Since earth is a sphere, this seems to be a safe assumption. This also justifies the knowledge tag.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Ahhh, nice adjustment; you're close with your thinking, serves me right for not thinking about lateral solutions. The real question is, would I escape, even if the plane is infinite? This is definitely a suitable answer to the way the question was originally phrased so don't remove the edit, just edit with a new guess. I'll be awarding $+50$ bounty for thinking outside the box with your spheroid solution.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@PerpetualJ: Thanks! In the infinite plane - straight line case, it does seem like you’ll escape. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "559"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpuzzling.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f79495%2flets-play-tag%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
The answer is:
Yes. Either A tags B before the game starts,
or
A's steps are twice as long as B's, and so tag occurs at the end of round 1.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Very good attempt, but note the knowledge tag. :) +1 for taking the same route my daughter tries every time! HAHA
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The answer is:
Yes. Either A tags B before the game starts,
or
A's steps are twice as long as B's, and so tag occurs at the end of round 1.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Very good attempt, but note the knowledge tag. :) +1 for taking the same route my daughter tries every time! HAHA
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The answer is:
Yes. Either A tags B before the game starts,
or
A's steps are twice as long as B's, and so tag occurs at the end of round 1.
$endgroup$
The answer is:
Yes. Either A tags B before the game starts,
or
A's steps are twice as long as B's, and so tag occurs at the end of round 1.
answered 3 hours ago
JonMark PerryJonMark Perry
19k63891
19k63891
$begingroup$
Very good attempt, but note the knowledge tag. :) +1 for taking the same route my daughter tries every time! HAHA
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Very good attempt, but note the knowledge tag. :) +1 for taking the same route my daughter tries every time! HAHA
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Very good attempt, but note the knowledge tag. :) +1 for taking the same route my daughter tries every time! HAHA
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Very good attempt, but note the knowledge tag. :) +1 for taking the same route my daughter tries every time! HAHA
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The answer is
Yes.
We can do this because:
Geometry. If we were on a plane, you would escape, but if we were on a non-Euclidean surface (like a torus or a sphere) you would come up to me from behind and I could tag you. Since earth is a sphere, this seems to be a safe assumption. This also justifies the knowledge tag.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Ahhh, nice adjustment; you're close with your thinking, serves me right for not thinking about lateral solutions. The real question is, would I escape, even if the plane is infinite? This is definitely a suitable answer to the way the question was originally phrased so don't remove the edit, just edit with a new guess. I'll be awarding $+50$ bounty for thinking outside the box with your spheroid solution.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@PerpetualJ: Thanks! In the infinite plane - straight line case, it does seem like you’ll escape. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The answer is
Yes.
We can do this because:
Geometry. If we were on a plane, you would escape, but if we were on a non-Euclidean surface (like a torus or a sphere) you would come up to me from behind and I could tag you. Since earth is a sphere, this seems to be a safe assumption. This also justifies the knowledge tag.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Ahhh, nice adjustment; you're close with your thinking, serves me right for not thinking about lateral solutions. The real question is, would I escape, even if the plane is infinite? This is definitely a suitable answer to the way the question was originally phrased so don't remove the edit, just edit with a new guess. I'll be awarding $+50$ bounty for thinking outside the box with your spheroid solution.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@PerpetualJ: Thanks! In the infinite plane - straight line case, it does seem like you’ll escape. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The answer is
Yes.
We can do this because:
Geometry. If we were on a plane, you would escape, but if we were on a non-Euclidean surface (like a torus or a sphere) you would come up to me from behind and I could tag you. Since earth is a sphere, this seems to be a safe assumption. This also justifies the knowledge tag.
$endgroup$
The answer is
Yes.
We can do this because:
Geometry. If we were on a plane, you would escape, but if we were on a non-Euclidean surface (like a torus or a sphere) you would come up to me from behind and I could tag you. Since earth is a sphere, this seems to be a safe assumption. This also justifies the knowledge tag.
edited 1 hour ago
answered 1 hour ago
Krad CigolKrad Cigol
68619
68619
$begingroup$
Ahhh, nice adjustment; you're close with your thinking, serves me right for not thinking about lateral solutions. The real question is, would I escape, even if the plane is infinite? This is definitely a suitable answer to the way the question was originally phrased so don't remove the edit, just edit with a new guess. I'll be awarding $+50$ bounty for thinking outside the box with your spheroid solution.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@PerpetualJ: Thanks! In the infinite plane - straight line case, it does seem like you’ll escape. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Ahhh, nice adjustment; you're close with your thinking, serves me right for not thinking about lateral solutions. The real question is, would I escape, even if the plane is infinite? This is definitely a suitable answer to the way the question was originally phrased so don't remove the edit, just edit with a new guess. I'll be awarding $+50$ bounty for thinking outside the box with your spheroid solution.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@PerpetualJ: Thanks! In the infinite plane - straight line case, it does seem like you’ll escape. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Ahhh, nice adjustment; you're close with your thinking, serves me right for not thinking about lateral solutions. The real question is, would I escape, even if the plane is infinite? This is definitely a suitable answer to the way the question was originally phrased so don't remove the edit, just edit with a new guess. I'll be awarding $+50$ bounty for thinking outside the box with your spheroid solution.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Ahhh, nice adjustment; you're close with your thinking, serves me right for not thinking about lateral solutions. The real question is, would I escape, even if the plane is infinite? This is definitely a suitable answer to the way the question was originally phrased so don't remove the edit, just edit with a new guess. I'll be awarding $+50$ bounty for thinking outside the box with your spheroid solution.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@PerpetualJ: Thanks! In the infinite plane - straight line case, it does seem like you’ll escape. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@PerpetualJ: Thanks! In the infinite plane - straight line case, it does seem like you’ll escape. I’ll see if I can figure it out.
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Puzzling Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpuzzling.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f79495%2flets-play-tag%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
$begingroup$
Can paths be different? Will you try your best not to get caught, or will you take a path where you can get caught?
$endgroup$
– Krad Cigol
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@KradCigol I've updated my post to clarify this question and another.
$endgroup$
– PerpetualJ
1 hour ago