CATCHING THE THIEF.
(
Money Puzzles)
"Now, constable," said the defendant's counsel in cross-examination,"
you say that the prisoner was exactly twenty-seven steps ahead of you
when you started to run after him?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you swear that he takes eight steps to your five?"
"That is so."
"Then I ask you, constable, as an intelligent man, to explain how you
ever caught him, if that is the case?"
"Well, you see, I have got a longer stride. In fact, two of my steps are
equal in length to five of the prisoner's. If you work it out, you will
find that the number of steps I required would bring me exactly to the
spot where I captured him."
Here the foreman of the jury asked for a few minutes to figure out the
number of steps the constable must have taken. Can you also say how many
steps the officer needed to catch the thief?
Answer:
The constable took thirty steps. In the same time the thief would take
forty-eight, which, added to his start of twenty-seven, carried him
seventy-five steps. This distance would be exactly equal to thirty steps
of the constable.
