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Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

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19 posts Page 1 of 1
Sema
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:37 pm UTC

Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Sema Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:07 pm UTC

While working on a case Dr Watson accidentally fell down

a 30ft dry wishing well. Sherlock Holmes lowered him
down a rope.
"Can you climb up?" shouted Holmes.
"I'll be out before you know it!" came Watson's reply.
But the climb wasn't as easy as Watson had first
imagined. Each hour he managed to climb 3ft - but
slipped back 2ft.
How long did it take Watson to get out?
I am not sure what I did his correct. What I have done is in the spoiler tag.
Spoiler:
I assumed that at each hour the displacement is 1ft, since he moves up 3 ft and slips 2ft
down in hour. So I multiplied Ihr/ft with 30feet to get 30 hrs. But I have doubts about this.

T
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Tirian
Posts: 1891
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:03 pm UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Tirian Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:35 pm UTC

You are right to be suspicious of your answer. Try solving the problem assuming that the well was
only 5 feet deep, carefully noting Watson's depth when he climbs three feet and then when he drops
two feet instead of combining them into a single operation.
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Sema
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:37 pm UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Sema Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:28 pm UTC

Tirian wrote:You are right to be suspicious of your answer. Try solving the problem assuming

that the well was only 5 feet deep, carefully noting Watson's depth when he climbs three feet
and then when he drops two feet instead of combining them into a single operation.

Spoiler:

my answer(im still not sure)

Spoiler:
T
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Gopher of Pern
Posts: 245

Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:28 am UTC

Location: Central Coast, Australia

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Gopher of Pern Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:19 pm UTC

Sema wrote:
Tirian wrote:You are right to be suspicious of your answer. Try solving the problem assuming

that the well was only 5 feet deep, carefully noting Watson's depth when he climbs three feet
and then when he drops two feet instead of combining them into a single operation.

Spoiler:

my answer(im still not sure)

Spoiler:

Not quite.
Spoiler:
Look In My Face
Stare In My Soul
I Begin To Stupefy
T
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unlof
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 6:13 pm UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby unlof Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:45 am UTC

where t is hours elapsed, d is depth of well in feet

we assume that during each hour he first climbs 3 feet, and only then slips down 2 feet; rather than
doing some other combination of climb/slip/climb/slip which gives him the same total
progress/slipping per hour.
also, we assume he is starting 30ft below the top of the well, or is 0ft tall, or whatever; ignore his
actual height when starting.

Spoiler:

I was going to come up with general solution for any amount of climbing and slipping in any depth
well and do a nice proof by induction, but I just realized its been way too long since I took discrete
math. It would be a more fun problem for that if he were to get tired as he progressed, or the rope
caused less slipping near the top of the well where it was dry, or something like that.

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Zalzidrax
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:41 am UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Zalzidrax Wed Oct 13, 2010 3:45 pm UTC

Spoiler:
T
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redrogue
Posts: 116
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:17 pm UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby redrogue Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:30 pm UTC

Imagine a perfectly spherical Watson in simple harmonic motion...

I get 20.5 hours, roughly.
Spoiler:
Is 'no' your answer to this question?
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Sema
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:37 pm UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Sema Wed Oct 13, 2010 8:20 pm UTC

Gopher of Pern wrote:

Sema wrote:
Tirian wrote:You are right to be suspicious of your answer. Try solving the problem assuming

that the well was only 5 feet deep, carefully noting Watson's depth when he climbs three feet
and then when he drops two feet instead of combining them into a single operation.

Spoiler:

my answer(im still not sure)

Spoiler:

Not quite.
Spoiler:

Spoiler:
T
o
p

Moonbeam
Posts: 278
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 5:28 pm UTC
Location: UK

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Moonbeam Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:33 pm UTC

Sema wrote:

Spoiler:

... it's all very well putting it into a computer to solve (I honestly can't believe you felt the need to
do that, but hey - who am I to ask???) - but do you understand the logic behind it??

If not and you need an explanation, then look here:

Spoiler:
T
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ircmaxell
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:06 am UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby ircmaxell Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:07 pm UTC

Well, I got 19 hours.

Spoiler:
T
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freddyfish
Posts: 69
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:08 am UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby freddyfish Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:31 pm UTC

to introduce a point of complexity (I dont actually know if this changes the answer, I'll work it out
later and let you know)
we know that he climbs up three ft in 1 hr and he slips back 2 ft. But clearly he does slip down on
the hour every hour. It happens gradually the whole way up. Now whats the answer?
(interestingly, im fairly sure this makes the problem easier)
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Krealr
Posts: 148
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:22 pm UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Krealr Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:13 pm UTC

Sema wrote:... Dr Watson accidentally fell down

a 30ft dry wishing well.

After falling down a 30ft well Watson is dead.

It takes 30 minutes for Watson to realize he is a ghost and float to the top of the well

T
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tckthomas
Posts: 131
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:17 am UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby tckthomas Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:49 am UTC

Gosh, so long?
Spoiler:
T
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SomeFloridaKid
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:59 am UTC
Contact:
Contact SomeFloridaKid

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby SomeFloridaKid Wed Oct 20, 2010 1:23 am UTC

Spoiler:

may be wrong, but this is how we did it in my bio class (warm up brain teaser)
EXPAND:
(a+b)^n

(a+b)^n

(a+b)^n

(a+b)^n
GENERATION 191,184,382 : The first time you see this, copy it into your sig and divide the generation
number by 2 if it's even, or multiply it by 3 then add 1 if it's odd. Social experiment.
T
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math
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:25 am UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby math Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:28 am UTC

Okay, you people overanalyze, but the original poster UNDERanalyzed.

Spoiler:
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HarvesteR
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 1:13 pm UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby HarvesteR Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:02 pm UTC

tckthomas wrote:Gosh, so long?

Spoiler:

My thoughts exactly..

Spoiler:

So, the answer (in a discrete step scenario, where any other parameters are not considered) is:
Spoiler:

Cheers
The next sentence is the truth. - The previous sentence is a lie.
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Xias
Posts: 281
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:08 am UTC
Location: California
Contact:
Contact Xias

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Xias Wed Oct 27, 2010 12:43 am UTC

Spoiler:
Goals:
1. Disprove something widely accepted to be true (In progress... I'm getting there.)
2. Have an action figure made of myself (With karate chop action!)
3. Win a dancing contest (COMPLETE)

fimzo
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 2:48 am UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby fimzo Wed Oct 27, 2010 1:53 am UTC

In case anyone finds it relevant, Sherlock Holmes is very fit and tall, but Watson was shot in either
the arm or leg (it varies throughout Doyle's books) during the second Anglo-Afghan war. Watson is of
average height and fitness. Assuming Holmes can't do anything to assist Watson's ascent, you would
also have to integrate the fact that spending over a day (28 hours, without any additional factors)
climbing out of a well would be exhausting, and require some rest. Of course, none of these
external variables need apply to the puzzle.

T
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Vesuvius
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:47 am UTC

Re: Sherlock Holmes Puzzle 3

Postby Vesuvius Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:58 am UTC

redrogue wrote:Imagine a perfectly spherical Watson...

Lol!
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