THE SHORTEST DISTANCE.

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 150, 21 December 1929, Page 34

THE SHORTEST DISTANCE.

. Here ..is another geometrical problem in which no figures are involved, for it is the method of procedure that is required to be found, and if the reader . does not know the theory of it, he can determine the question with the aid of a diagram and compasses.' A man ■working at a point "A ; " on the squth side of a brook whicti' runs east and ■west, is obliged every evening after ■work to go to the brook for a supply of water for his hut (H), which is situated -some distance east of "A " and -on;, the '■ same side- of the brook. Naturally,! the man desires to take the shortest possible route from "A" to the brook, thence to his hut, and the question he asks is at what point should he reach the brook -direct from "A" in order to ensure this? There is an easy way to determine cases of the kind, tho mathematical method of finding it being well worth knowing, and it is so simple that if a diagram ■be made from the description given, the reader no doubt will be able to discover it quite easily. A simple calculation afterwards will "prove" tho' correctness or otherwise of any solution arrived at. or compasses would do equally as.well.