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The Monk Travel
(solution)
One of the most elegant ways to prove there is a spot along the path that
the monk will occupy on both trips at precisely the same time of day is as
follows.
The monk starts his way down at the same time as he starts his way up,
except several days later - exactly at sunrise. Now let's suppose
there are two monks. And they both start their own way, but one starts
from the top of the mountain (i.e. descending down) while another - from
the bottom (i.e. climbing up). Since there is only a narrow path spiraled
the mountain the two monks will definitely meet at some point along the
path and at some certain time of day (such a meeting always happens at
some certain point of time and place)! This proves that the way up and the
way down when are started at some certain time of day (in our case - at
sunrise) both have a point along the path which the monk passes at
precisely the same time of day.
Karl Dunker himself writes that there are several ways to go about it,
"but probably none is... more drastically evident than the following. Let
ascent and descent be divided between two persons on the same day. They
must meet. Ergo... With this, from an unclear dim condition not easily
surveyable, the situation has suddenly been brought into full daylight." |