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Topic: Monk (Read 562 times) |
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alien2
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You ask a monk to sell you his medallion of galactic wonder. He likes his medallion, but luckily for you, he likes riddles more. He says: 'My child, you are standing on the east side of a river. How could you get to its other side w/o going west? If you answer correctly, I'll give you the medallion.'
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Archae
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Re: Monk
« Reply #1 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 11:41am » |
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The Earth is fortunately round, but somehow I don't think that is what you had in mind...
If the river ever bends properly, you can travel north or south (depending on where the bend is) and cross the river in a north/south direction, finding yourself on the other side of the river. You have never ventured west, but if you are on the other side of the river in respect to your starting point, you must therefore be on the west side of the river.
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alien2
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Re: Monk
« Reply #2 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 11:56am » |
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on Jun 16th, 2007, 11:41am, Archae wrote:| The Earth is fortunately round, but somehow I don't think that is what you had in mind... |
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Actually I did.  This riddle is supposed to be a snack. 
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ima1trkpny
Senior Riddler
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Re: Monk
« Reply #3 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 2:34pm » |
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Or alternatively (though it will take quite a long time), go all the way around the world going east and you will end up on the other side of the river(the monk never said you had to actually cross the river).
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"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -Churchill
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Archae
Junior Member
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Re: Monk
« Reply #4 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 3:44pm » |
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ima1trkpny: I think your solution is the one that Icey wanted... which is why I mentioned the fact that the Earth is round.
The problem with my alternate solution is that the river in question may not bend the way our traveler would need it to, so this solution does not work all the time. Whereas going east around the Earth would.
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ima1trkpny
Senior Riddler
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Re: Monk
« Reply #5 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 4:15pm » |
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Sorry, I actually realized that after I posted. I give you kudos though... I would have gone the long way (very A-typical of me) even if the river had been properly set up for your shortcut solution... so congrats on being more creative than me
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"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -Churchill
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Archae
Junior Member
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Re: Monk
« Reply #6 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 4:40pm » |
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I wouldn't say I was being particularly creative; I just assumed that going all the way around the world was not the solution Iceman was looking for, but I was wrong.
To be creative, I should suggest teleportation (monks can teleport, right?), or, even better, tessering (a la Wrinkle in Time).
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ima1trkpny
Senior Riddler
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Re: Monk
« Reply #7 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 10:08pm » |
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Hehe... I loved that book  I meant that you came up with easier solutions then I did... I am one of those people who seems to always have to learn the hard way... 
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"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -Churchill
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Grimbal
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Re: Monk
« Reply #8 on: Jun 18th, 2007, 7:50am » |
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It would be shorter to go north to the North Pole, and then south to the point on the other side of the river. At most, you need to walk 1/2 of a world circumference.
But if "east of a river" is up to 20000 km east and "west of the river" is up to 20000 km west, then with a single step eastward you can do it.
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