Run Cody Run!

Geometry Level 3

Cody has started running in a well-organized manner. He runs 100 m 100 \text{ m} east, then turns left and runs another 10 m 10 \text{ m} north, turns left and runs 1 m , 1 \text{ m}, again turns left and runs 0.1 m , 0.1 \text{ m}, and on the next turn 0.01 m , 0.01 \text{ m}, and so on.

Assuming that Cody can run in this pattern infinitely, the displacement from his initial position can be written as a b \frac{a}{\sqrt{b}} with a a and b b being positive integers and b b square-free.

What is the value of a × b ? a \times b?


The answer is 101000.

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6 solutions

Aditya Raut
Jul 29, 2014

Let C o d y \color{#69047E}{Cody} start from ( 0 , 0 ) (0,0) .

\bullet Then, his displacement along X axis \color{#D61F06}{\textbf{X axis}} is actually

+ 100 1 + 1 100 1 1 0 4 . . . \color{#3D99F6}{+100 - 1 + \dfrac{1}{100} - \dfrac{1}{10^4} ... \infty}

\bullet and displacement along Y axis \color{#D61F06}{\textbf{Y axis}} is actually

+ 10 1 10 + 1 1 0 3 1 1 0 5 . . . \color{#20A900}{+10 - \dfrac{1}{10} + \dfrac{1}{10^3}-\dfrac{1}{10^5} ... \infty}

These are 2 GPs , a 1 = 100 , a 2 = 10 \color{#3D99F6}{a_1=100} , \color{#20A900}{a_2=10} and r 1 = r 2 = 1 100 \color{#3D99F6}{r_1=} \color{#20A900}{r_2 =} \color{#D61F06}{\dfrac{-1}{100}}

By using sum of infinite terms of a GP ,i.e. s u m = a 1 r sum_\infty=\dfrac{a}{1-r} , we get that

S x = 100 1 ( 1 100 ) = 10000 101 \color{#3D99F6}{S_x = \dfrac{100}{1-(-\frac{1}{100})} = \dfrac{10000}{101}}

S y = 10 1 ( 1 100 ) = 1000 101 \color{#20A900}{S_y = \dfrac{10}{1-(-\frac{1}{100})} = \dfrac{1000}{101}}

Actual displacement = S x 2 + S y 2 = 1 0 8 + 1 0 6 10 1 2 \sqrt{\color{#3D99F6}{S_x ^2} +\color{#20A900}{ S_y ^2}} = \sqrt{\dfrac{10^8+10^6}{101^2}}

Hence the displacement is 1 0 6 ( 1 0 2 + 1 ) 10 1 2 = 1 0 6 101 = 1000 101 \sqrt{\dfrac{10^6(10^2+1)}{101^2}}=\sqrt{\dfrac{10^6}{101}} = \dfrac{1000}{\sqrt{101}}

Hence asked thing is 101 × 1000 = 101000 101\times 1000 = \boxed{101000} .

@Dinesh Chavan , I wrote the solution exactly 1 minute before you ...

Aditya Raut - 6 years, 10 months ago

Answer is Square of diagonal of first two turn.Ha Ha 10 0 2 + 1 0 2 {100^2+10^2} = 10100 {10100}

Aamir Faisal Ansari - 6 years, 10 months ago

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What is the recurrence relation for displacent in n turns ? What is the computer program for this question's answer ?

Aren't the above questions good mind scratcher exercises ?

Aditya Raut - 6 years, 10 months ago

Very Good Solution without color.

Aamir Faisal Ansari - 6 years, 10 months ago

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Oh thanks for reminding, i had forgotten, i will color it nowww ... :P :P :P image image

Aditya Raut - 6 years, 10 months ago

sign...I divided the distance 100 each time so I got the wrong answer

Zhe He - 6 years, 10 months ago

1000/√(101)

2000/√(4x101)

3000/√(9x101)

4000/√(16x101)

& so on...

Hence the final answer could be a multiple of "10100" like 80800 or so...

Diptesh Sen - 6 years, 9 months ago

Question asks to find distance from the initial position not the displacement. I think these two quantities are not always the same.

Devendra Kumar Singh - 5 years, 3 months ago

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=100%2A%20sum%20exp%28i%2A%CF%80%2F2%2Ak%29%2F10%5Ek%20for%20k%3D0%20to%20%E2%88%9E

Yuriy Kazakov - 4 years, 3 months ago

I broke up displacement in each of the 4 directions and then combined the sum of individual distances like:

100 1 0.0001 i 1 1 0.0001 i + 10 1 0.0001 j 0.1 1 0.0001 j \frac{100}{1-0.0001}i - \frac{1}{1-0.0001}i + \frac{10}{1-0.0001}j - \frac{0.1}{1-0.0001}j = 10000 9999 ( 100 i + 10 j i 0.1 j ) = \frac{10000}{9999}(100i + 10j - i -0.1j) = 10000 9999 ( 99 i + 9.9 j ) = \frac{10000}{9999}(99i + 9.9j)

And then calculate the displacement. I'm getting the wrong answer as 98000199. Where am I wrong?

Paras Lehana - 3 years, 8 months ago

Why actualDisplacement = root of SQUARE of Sx + SQUARE of Sy.. I mean why did you square rooted them?

A Former Brilliant Member - 2 years, 3 months ago

Did the same

Vimal Khetan - 1 year, 2 months ago
Dinesh Chavan
Jul 29, 2014

The question, though seemingly twisty, is actually easy. Notice that cody moves with distance of 100 , 10 , 1 , 0.1..... 100,10,1,0.1..... which form a G.P. Now, our aim is to find the distance. lets consider the horizontal displacement first. We notice that its 100 1 + 0.01 0.0001...... 100-1+0.01-0.0001...... uptill infinity. Now, we can surely find its sum by geometric progression formula, as 100 1 + 0.01 \frac{100}{1+0.01} ...

Now, lets try to find out vertical displacement. Notice that its also 10 0.1 + 0.001...... 10-0.1+0.001...... , which again is a GP with a sum of 10 1 + 0.01 \frac{10}{1+0.01}

Thus, we can the actual displacement is ( 100 1 + 0.01 ) 2 + ( 10 1 + 0.01 ) 2 = 1000 101 \sqrt{(\frac{100}{1+0.01})^2+(\frac{10}{1+0.01})^2}=\frac{1000}{\sqrt{101}}

Thus, the answer is 101000 101000

Also, if Cody moves generally in the same way with distances as a , a r , a r 2 , a r 3 , . . . . . . a,ar,ar^2,ar^3,...... , Then the displacement after infinite turns will be
a 1 + r 2 \frac{a}{\sqrt{1+r^2}}

Started with 100 with r = 0.1

So distances with change in direction would go like, 100, 10, 1, 10^-1, 10^-2, 10^-3, 10^-4, 10^-5

After reaching direction of the point of beginning 1st time,

Displacement towards East = Walk towards East - Walk towards West = 100 - 1 = 99m

Displacement towards North = Walk towards North - Walk towards South = 10 - 0.1 = 9.9m

Effective displacement from point of beginning to the point of completion of first round. D(Eff) = sqrt(Displacement in towards East^2 + Displacement in towards North^2) D(Eff) = sqrt(99^2 + 9.9^2) = sqrt(99^2 + 99^2 0.1^2) = 99 sqrt(1^2 + 0.1^2) = 99*sqrt(1.01)

Effective displacement in every iteration can be given as,

99 sqrt(1.01), 99 sqrt(1.01) 10^-4, 99 sqrt(1.01)*10^-8....to infinity

GP Sum to infinity = a/(1-r)

a = 99*sqrt(1.01) r = 10^-4

S = 99*sqrt(1.01) / (1 - 10^-4)

For the purpose of problem, after sum adjustment, S = 99 1.01 / (1 - 10^-4) sqrt(1.01) S = 99.99 * 10^4/ (10^4 - 1) sqrt(1.01) S = 99.99 * 10^4/ (9999) sqrt(1.01) S = 10^2/ sqrt(1.01) S = 100/ sqrt(1.01)

Which is in the form of a/sqrt(b), so a = 100 b = 1.01

a X b = 101

Why am I wrong? :(

Naveen Jalwadi - 5 years, 4 months ago

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1.01 is an integer?

Paul Alberti-Strait - 5 years, 1 month ago

I did it the same way. But I didn't noticed that Cody started with 100, and I did my operations starting with 10, so my answer was 10100 hahaha. Well, I'll be more careful the next time. By the way, excellent solution!

Carlos David Nexans - 6 years, 10 months ago
Bill Bell
Oct 27, 2014

As in other solutions, Cody begins his jogging at (x,y)=(0,0). His position converges rapidly to around (x,y)=(99.0099009901, 9.90099009901). We hazard the guess that this is x=10000/101 and y=1000/101, hence the solution.

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def change ( ) :
    possibilities = [    
        lambda x, y, c : ( x + c, y ), # E
        lambda x, y, c : ( x, y + c ), # N
        lambda x, y, c : ( x - c, y ), # W
        lambda x, y, c : ( x, y - c ), # S
        ]
    state = 0
    yield possibilities [ state ]
    while True :
        state = ( state + 1 ) % 4
        yield possibilities [ state ]

def run ( ) :
    state = 100
    yield 100
    while True :
        state *= 0.1
        yield state

c = change ( )
r = run ( )
x, y = 0, 0
for i in range ( 15 ) :
    x, y = c . next ( ) ( x, y, r . next ( ) )
    print x, y

Ask distance not displacement in question

Vivek Kumar Gupta - 4 years, 11 months ago

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Note, that it says final distance from his original point in the question, which is equivalent to saying his overall displacement.

Haytham Connor - 4 years, 9 months ago
Bostang Palaguna
Jan 17, 2021

break into x-component and y-component as you would do it in physics.

Yuriy Kazakov
Feb 21, 2018

I use Wolfram and sum geometrical progression

1 + k + k 2 + . . . = 1 / ( 1 k ) , k = 1 / 1 0 4 1+k+k^2+... = 1/(1-k), k=1/10^4

展豪 張
Sep 15, 2016

With aid of a complex plane,
Final position (with starting point as origin) = 100 + 10 i 1 = 100 1 0.1 i =100+10i-1-\cdots=\dfrac{100}{1-0.1i}
Magnitude= 100 1 2 + 0. 1 2 = 1000 101 \dfrac{100}{\sqrt{1^2+0.1^2}}=\dfrac{1000}{\sqrt{101}}
a × b = 1000 × 101 = 101000 a\times b=1000\times 101=101000


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