April 15th, 2003 -- by Bacchus
Zeno’s Paradox…Solved!
So it seems they rounded up all the students at this one high school and herded them into the gym. Then they lined up all the girls against one wall, and all the boys against the opposite wall. They rang a bell ever ten seconds, and instructed the students to walk toward each other every time the bell rang, walking each time only until half the previous distance between the students had been covered.
A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer were asked, “When will the girls and boys meet?”
The mathematician said: “Never.”
The physicist said: “In an infinite amount of time.”
The engineer said: “Well… in about two minutes, they’ll be close enough for all practical purposes.”
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Must have been an ooold mathematician, since we solved Zeno’s paradox’s about 300+ years ago.
We? Apparently you’re none too young yourself!
Sorry Gman, but under the stated conditions, where ten seconds pass between each move, the mathematician is (strictly speaking) correct. The solution to Zeno’s paradox recognizes that at constant velocity, the time taken to cover each half of the remaining distance must itself be a convergent series. Here it is not.
In the real world, of course, it is the engineer who is right.