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The Man and the Dog

The Man and the Dog

Posers and Puzzles

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A Classic Puzzle by Henry Ernest Dudeney
Yes, when I take my dog for a walk, said a mathematical friend, he frequently supplies me with some interesting puzzle to solve. One day, for example, he waited, as I left the door, to see which way I should go, and when I started he raced along to the end of the road, immediately returning to me; again racing to the end of the road and again returning. He did this four times in all, at a uniform speed, and then ran at my side the remaining distance, which according to my paces measured 27 yards. I afterwards measured the distance from my door to the end of the road and found it to be 625 feet. Now, if I walk 4 miles per hour, what is the speed of my dog when racing to and fro?

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This one can be done by quite standard algebra which needn't be belabored here. The answer is of course on the order of 10^24 angstroms per epoch, or 16 miles per hour.