document.write( "Question 1079571: A one kilometer long caravan of men is walking at a constant rate. A man from the rear end walks towards the head and back to the rear at the instant when the caravan has covered a distance of one kilometer. Find the total distance travelled by the man. \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #693971 by ikleyn(52790) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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\n" ); document.write( "A one kilometer long caravan of men is walking at a constant rate. A man from the rear end walks towards the head and back
\n" ); document.write( "to the rear at the instant when the caravan has covered a distance of one kilometer. Find the total distance travelled by the man.
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document.write( "Similar problem was submitted to the forum long time ago.\r\n" );
document.write( "I solved it and posted as my answer to the forum; after that I placed it as the part of the lesson\r\n" );
document.write( "    - Travel problems on a messenger moving back and forth along the marching army's column\r\n" );
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document.write( "Surely, another numerical data were used in that problem, but it doesn't matter.\r\n" );
document.write( "The answer is: \r\n" );
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document.write( "     The distance traveled by the man is doubled length of the caravan, i.e. 2 km.\r\n" );
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document.write( "My solution was based on using the traditional coordinate system attached to the Earth surface.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Some time after that another tutor delivered another solution using coordinate system attached to the moving caravan.\r\n" );
document.write( "In this coordinate system the caravan is UNMOVED, and the answer becomes crystally clear: \r\n" );
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document.write( "          The distance traveled by the man is 2 times the length of the caravan.\r\n" );
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document.write( "It is true for ANY length of the caravan and for any speed of the man provided it is greater than the caravan's speed.\r\n" );
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "If you love Travel and Distance problems (as much as I love them), you can find A LOT of THEM in this site.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "They are collected in the chapter Travel and Distance problems in this free of charge online textbook\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " - ALGEBRA-I - YOUR ONLINE TEXTBOOK.\r
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