Answer this Question(:

cisco

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Ok, here it goes..

A man goes Bear Hunting and leaves his cabin. He goes 10 Miles south, 10 miles west, and 10 miles north. Arriving at his Camp Site, he finds his cabin to be destroyed by a bear. What color was the bear?
 
Assuming he never had to travel east, then he camped on the north pole, meaning only a polar bear could've destroyed his camp
 
Assuming he never had to travel east, then he camped on the north pole, meaning only a polar bear could've destroyed his camp

(What if he was using a compass to guide his way, so he didn't actually head true S/W/N?)

troll%20face.png
I love twists...
 
Then he could've walked in a circle in the Rocky Mountain or Canadian wilderness, meaning it could've been a brown, black, or grizzly bear.... Or it there was no trees and only tall grasses, it could've been a giraffe. The lack of true directions pretty much invalidates the premise.....
 
Then he could've walked in a circle in the Rocky Mountain or Canadian wilderness, meaning it could've been a brown, black, or grizzly bear.... Or it there was no trees and only tall grasses, it could've been a giraffe. The lack of true directions pretty much invalidates the premise.....

Magnetic north (82.7° N 114.4° W), and everything within a 10 mile radius (200 miles for that matter, actually) is water. Magnetic South (63° 30′ 0″ S, 138° 0′ 0″ E) has nothing but water within 150 miles.

How in the world would a brown/black/grizzly bear have destroyed it?

(Note: this question is exactly the same as the OP, but it just changes the campsite's coordinates. There is no "lack" of information. There is a lack of SOMETHING ELSE... Tell me what that is!)
 
Shoot The Bear!! They are probably disoriented after a long winter. Just kidding after they have destroyed your rental car. Not mine I watched the movie and took every thing out of the car that even smelled like food. "California Rangers at Yosemite do A Great Job" and return some of the Bears to the wilderness:thumb: Used to see the Rangers in Yosemite and working the Bears out of their unnatural environment in the parking lot, the living quarter or the meadow. Great thing to watch but Rangers do a great job with some of them doing lots of work to protect the Bears. Rough work and they do a great job.They can open your car like a can opener on a tunifish can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO8yNetICcY

Enough Said.
 
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1017225: Cardinal directions are given. The standard procedure for following such directions are along meridian lines for north/south and along parallels of latitude for east/west. Now, knowing this, back to the op.... Nobody has effectively explained why it is at the North Pole yet.... (HINT: Are there any other places on the Earth where such traveling can be accomplished?)
 
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1017225: Cardinal directions are given. The standard procedure for following such directions are along meridian lines for north/south and along parallels of latitude for east/west. Now, knowing this, back to the op.... Nobody has effectively explained why it is at the North Pole yet.... (HINT: Are there any other places on the Earth where such traveling can be accomplished?)

Assuming he never had to travel east, then he camped on the north pole, meaning only a polar bear could've destroyed his camp

He has answered the OP already.

But the twisted version (using a compass), no so yet.
 
Fine, I'll explain. At the north pole, you can ONLY go south. Once there, going east or west follows the lines of longitude which is perfectly perpendicular to the north south line. Once at the next point, a path straight north leads back to the pole. Is it really necessary to do the geometry? The intuition is readily apparent with the answer.
 
You are correct in that it can originate at the North Pole, but there are an infinite number of places on the Earth's surface where this can originate other than the North Pole, so why is it a Polar Bear?
 
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BillSL-
I'm not sure of what you are asking other than the fact that the designation of whether it is astronomic or magnetic north was left out....
 
While you are trying to figure out the method to my madness, let me throw this one out:

Two flagpoles are perpendicular to a perfectly level piece of ground (for the sake of this problem, assume a flat Earth....) The two flagpoles are 10 feet and 15 feet high respectively. A wire is strung (no sag) from the top of the first to the base of the second. Another wire is strung (no sag) from the top of the second to the base of the first. The wires cross 6 feet above the ground. How far apart are the flagpoles?
 
BillSL, When you say he didn't necessarily go the cardinal directions, then the guy also didn't necessarily go in straight lines, which is why I said it invalidated the premise. A person can walk in a circle with a 30 mile circumference in alot of different places. And hornetguy, I'm pretty sure thats what I said.... I just didn't include the "ONLY" part since it was rather self explanatory.
 
For clarity sake, lets just assume a couple of things here. The south, east, and north directions are astronomic. Magnetic north is only used as a reference to astronomic and as GPS is becoming more widespread, the use for magnetic becomes less (except in the case of emergency equipment or power failures). (Those of us in the geodesy and cartography business cringe at the use of the reference "True North"...call it what it is....astronomic, magnetic, or grid.) The fact that the area is over water is inconsequential. Provided that the scenario occurs with the man walking over the terrain, one can deduct that the event occurred during the winter in that particular hemisphere.
 
Fine, I'll explain. At the north pole, you can ONLY go south. Once there, going east or west follows the lines of longitude which is perfectly perpendicular to the north south line. Once at the next point, a path straight north leads back to the pole. Is it really necessary to do the geometry? The intuition is readily apparent with the answer.

Hornetguy has it right. Not explicitly stated in his answer is that the North Pole is the only place where you can follow the proscribed course and end up back at your starting point. You have to assume that each segment of the path is taken along a rhumb line. If instead you assume a great circle path starting in the given direction, then there is no solution. I cannot think of any other assumptions that would allow an infinite number of solutions as stated by evilleramsfan.

As for the flag pole question. The wires cross at the same height regardless of the distance between the poles. Extra credit: what is the formula for the height of crossing as a function of the height of the poles?
 
OK, I suddenly recognized the other (infinite number of) solutions which occur when the westward leg results in a complete circle or multiple complete circles around the south pole. All such solutions have the initial starting point within approx 11.6 miles of the south pole.
 
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Oceanblue is the winner!:thumb: Any point 10 miles north of a parallel of latitude with a circumference of 10 miles yields the same answer as it does with a parallel of latitude with a circumference of 10/x miles....the man just has to walk more laps. However, since there are no bears at the south pole, then it has to be at the north pole.....

(I'll leave the formula for someone to figure out.....it is one of those things that once you figure it out, it is pretty simple....)
 
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