Archive for Yoak

Yoak: Mountain Climbing

Here’s a quick puzzle that I don’t think has appeared here previously.

A man leaves at exactly 6:00 AM to climb a mountain.  He may not climb at a constant rate.  In fact, he may stop to rest, or even backtrack a bit to see something interesting.  He arrives at the summit at exactly 6:00 PM and camps for the night.

The next day, he starts down at exactly 6:00 AM, again meandering unevenly, but following exactly the same path and reaching the bottom at exactly 6:00 PM.

The question is, was there some point on the path he was sure to have visited at exactly the same time on the two trips?

 

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