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Mind Blowing Problem


Pinkie Paranoia

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There is a train track that is 1024 miles long. On that track is a flat bed train 512 miles long, upon which rests a 512 mile long track. On that track is a flat bed train 256 miles long, upon which rests a 256 mile long track. The cycle continues with a 128 mile long train and track, then a 64 mile long train and track, a 32 mile long, 16 miles, 8, 4, 2, and finally 1.

 

All in all, there are 10 trains residing on 10 tracks. Each train has a top speed that is equal to its length. (The 512 mile train travels at 512 miles per hour, the 8 mile train travels at 8 miles per hour, etc.)

 

The rear ends of the trains are all flush with each other, and all the trains start instantaneously. The trains reach their top speeds immediately, and when they reach the end of their track, they stop immediately. The laws of inertia do not apply to these trains when they stop, nor when they start.

 

Is the top train, which spans a 1024 mile distance in one hour, travelling 1 mile per hour, or 1024 miles per hour?

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Would be interesting if not the fact that conceptualization of the question is flawed.

 

I will take it with logic to show it, even if logic rarely applies to such problems and never gives a solution :D

 

Individually, the top train on its own will be traveling with top speed of 1. Its MAXIMUM top speed is 1 after all, and the question refers to the top one only, not all at once. If we summarized them, it'll give us 1023mph.

 

Do note that the top train is 1 mile long itself, and it has a 2 mile track to pass. So it'll travel only one mile, not two. The cycle is not finished, so the top train will not cover the distance of 1024 miles, but 1023 miles.

 

Although what can I know? I'm an economist who hates mathematical riddles and sucks at maths~

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It depends whether the 1024 train is behind/in the middle of of the other trains on the same track or if it is residing on it's own seperate track. Common sense says that in the first case it would be one mile per hour due to not being able to travel faster than trains infront of it, and in the second instance 1024 miles per hour because it has no restrictions.

 

However, if things like inertia bear no effect on these trains, it's entirely possible for them to simply go through each other as if they were a Bore Einstein Condensate, in which case it would be going at 1024. In nature an unstoppable force and an unmovable object are the same, they'd pass straight through eachother, same goes for things that start and stop at their top speed instantly, it was not mentioned how crashing would affect them, so I'm going to have to assume that these trains are "Unstoppable forces".

 

On the other hand, you never said which train was at the front of them, if it was the 1 mph train, and these trains are not infact unstoppable forces, then it is safe to assume that all of the trains are going at 1 mph by merit of not having enough time to gain momentum to crash into and derail the 1 mph train at the front.

 

In yet another argument, you could claim that if 1024 is the longest track, being spanned by a train of 1024 in length, that it did not move at all, none of them did. This is the argument i'll go with. The trains can't move because they're exactly as long as the track they are on.

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@@Harmonic Revelations,

 

I think you didn't read the text with comprehension.

 

 

 

There is a train track that is 1024 miles long. On that track is a flat bed train 512 miles long.

 

 

The trains can't move because they're exactly as long as the track they are on.

 

Contradiction, because you're not getting the idea. The trains aren't on one and same tracks. Perhaps visualization will help you. " - " are the trains (equals 1 mile).

 

 

 

-

--

----

--------

----------------

--------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------

et cetera up to 1024 " - " 's.

 

 

Each train carries a track twice shorter than itself with another train which is twice shorter than the track it is upon. And they both start from mile zero. Thus, the shortest train, being one mile long, has a track of two miles length. It will travel only one mile, not two, thus the summaric distance covered by the last train will be equal to 1023 (which is equal to the summaric speed it'll travel with if we add up all trains velocity).

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