Problem 1 (Pirate Problem)
Two pirates decide to hide a stolen treasure on a desert island in the vicinity of a river. On one side of the river there is a birch tree located at a point they denote by B, which is directly west of a pine tree they denote by the point P. On the bank of the river nearest the trees, they drive a stake into the ground and denote this point as S. To bury the treasure, one of the pirates starts at S and walks towards B and after reaching turns right 90° and walks the same distance as SB reaching the point Q. In other words, SB = BQ. The second pirate starts at S and walks towards P , after which he turns left 90 degrees and walks the same distance as SB reaching the point R. In other words, we have SP = PR. The two pirates now advance towards each other and bury the treasure halfway between them. In other words, halfway between Q and R. Some months later the two pirates return to dig up the treasure only to discover that the stake was gone. The pirates thought they would never find the treasure until one of them said he had a plan. Is it possible to devise a way for the pirates to find the treasure without knowing the location of the stake S?
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Last modified on Tuesday, January 12, 1999