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April 5, 2006

#85: Paths explain

Paths

[Blueprint of a campus. Two buildings in the upper and lower left corners, respectively, and a rectangular lawn. A road encloses the lawn, another road traverses horizontally through the center of the lawn. The character is in the lower left and the upper right corner, where it says “my apartment”.]

[Dashed line 1, from the lower-left along the road to the top-left corner, then to the top-right corner.] 60 seconds

[Dashed line 2, from the lower-left along the road up to the center crossroads, then diagonally over the lawn to the top-right corner.] 48.2 seconds (80%)

[Dashed line 3, diagonally from the lower-left to the top-right corner.] 44.7 seconds (74%)

My apartment

#1=t

#2=(t*(1+√2))/3

#3=(t*√5)/3

When I’m walking, I worry a lot about the efficiency of my path.