A hunter is located 100 meters due South from a bear. Then he goes East 100 meters. After that, he looks to the North and he shoots to the North, wounding the bear. Nevertheless, we know that the bear did not move!
You will be even more puzzled after realizing that the question is:
What color is the bear?
Please, explain your reasoning. You can post your attempted answers in the comment box below. Please, do not use Facebook or Twitter to give your answers.
White. This is because the only place where this could happen would be in the north and south poles as the geometry of the Earth is not Euclidean (flat) but spherical. This effect is specially visible in the poles.
ReplyDeleteGood! One solution is that the bear is located exactly in the North Pole. Unfortunately, the South Pole is not a solution, because the hunter shoots to the North. As you have pointed out, this is a very useful cognitive conflict in order to motivate students to study non-Euclidean geometries .
DeleteThere is a second solution, a set of points in Earth's surface where the story makes sense too. Could you figure it out?
Every other point located 100 meters north to any parallel with a circumference length that divides 100 evenly (with a circumference length of 100 meters, 50, 25 , 20, 10, 5, 2, 1...) because in that way, moving 100 meters East would mean finishing in the exact same point where you started.
DeleteVery good!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete