Math Cartoons Cartoons - Easy Downloads - Recent 17-32 - Buy at ANDERTOONS. Mathematical Morsels I (Solutions) Two ferry boats ply back and forth across a river with constant speeds, turning at the banks without loss of time.
They leave opposite shores at the same instant, meet for the first rime some 700 feet from one shore, continue on their way to the banks, return and meet for the second time 400 feet from the opposite shore. [Without using pencil and paper] determine the width of the river. Solution : By the time of their first meeting, the total distance that the two boats have traveled is just the width of the river. It may take one mildly by surprise, however, to realize that, by the time they meet again, the total distance they have traveled is three times the width of the river.
Since the speeds are constant, the second meeting occurs after a total time that is three times as long as the time for the first meeting. GeoGebra.