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There is a famous arithmetic question :

Two trains $150$ miles apart are traveling toward each other along the same track. The first train goes $60$ miles per hour; the second train rushes along at 90 miles per hour. A fly is hovering just above the nose of the first train. It buzzes from the first train to the second train, turns around immediately, flies back to the first train, and turns around again. It goes on flying back and forth between the two trains until they collide. If the fly's speed is $120$ miles per hour, how far will it travel?

It is easy to determine the distance travelled by the bee.

But how to determine how many times it touches first/second train?

or

Which train it touches last?

Hailey
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  • to solve that you need a rest time for the bee, like lets say bee sits on the train for a millisecond – avz2611 May 30 '16 at 05:45
  • you can find the distance that both trains cover in less than a millisecond , then you can know the amount of trips needed till that distance is reached – avz2611 May 30 '16 at 05:50
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    It helps complicate the problem. – Eclipse Sun May 30 '16 at 05:51
  • it helps including a realistic touch :P – avz2611 May 30 '16 at 05:52
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    It's a hypothetical perfect situation. With instantaneous reversal and absolutely unvarying speeds and infintismal time instants and a bee the size of a perfect point and a universe without quantum mechanics, it's an infinite sum. The bee touches each train an infinite number of times. For any other answer somethings "gotta" give but it's utterly arbitrary what. – fleablood May 30 '16 at 06:32
  • It does become smaller but with rest time it won't go till infinity – avz2611 May 30 '16 at 06:35
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    See http://mathworld.wolfram.com/TwoTrainsPuzzle.html and the story about John von Neumann at the end. – lhf May 30 '16 at 09:51
  • If the bee is seen as a sphere with some finite radius instead of a point, you could get definite numbers as the solutions to your questions. – Bhaskar May 30 '16 at 10:17
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    @L16H7: That is not true. In the end it would still bounce an infinite amount of times when the trains are one bee diameter apart. – Aaganrmu May 30 '16 at 10:31
  • Elaborating on @Aaganrmu's comment: Yep, the case with a finite radius $r$ would be equivalent to the case where the bee is a point and trains have extra bumper of thicnkess $r$, which again would be the original question with the difference that the trains start $2r$ closer to each other. – JiK May 30 '16 at 11:34
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    Any source there exists a fly flying 120 mph...? – CiaPan May 30 '16 at 11:35
  • @CiaPan clearly, it's impossible. A bee, however... – Clement C. May 30 '16 at 11:59
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    @ClementC. However...? Well, any source for the bee's flight speed, please? – CiaPan May 30 '16 at 12:14
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    Mmh. I'm torn between linking to some new Uncyclopedia article and assuming you realize it was a joke. – Clement C. May 30 '16 at 12:16
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    The Hive and the Honey Bee, the "Bible" of beekeeping, indicates that a bee's flight speed averages about 15 miles per hour and they're capable of flying 20 miles per hour — that's what Kathy Keatley Garvey says in How Fast Can a Honey Bee Fly? – CiaPan May 30 '16 at 12:27
  • A horsefly actually reaches over 140 km/h (90.5 mph) – The Top 5 Fastest Flying Insects on Earth – CiaPan May 30 '16 at 12:35
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    If the insect maintains its alitude just above the noses of the trains, it will touch neither. – Andrew Morton May 30 '16 at 12:49
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    Is no one going to ask why we have 2 trains heading towards eachother at full speed? – bthmas May 30 '16 at 16:10
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    @bthmas the aren't going full speed. They are going 90 and 60 mph which are both quite a bit less than full speed. So we don't have to concern ourselves over that. – fleablood May 30 '16 at 16:41
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    @bthmas Them bees be hard to kill. – Clement C. May 30 '16 at 16:55
  • You may want to assign the fly a width, if you want a finite number as the answer. – user6245072 May 30 '16 at 18:56
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    I don't understand. If the fly is going back and forth, how does that affect the distance traveled by the bee? – Daniel R Hicks May 30 '16 at 20:12
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    Is it a bee or a fly? – Batominovski May 30 '16 at 21:46
  • You get a finite number whether the fly/bee has width/length or thickness. You get an infinite sum either way too. – fleablood May 31 '16 at 04:27
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    An infinite number of mathematicians enter a bar. The first says, "Pour me a beer". The second says, "Pour me a half a beer". The third says, "Pour me a fourth a beer", and on and on it goes. The bartender shaking his head, says, "Know your limits" and pours them two beers. – Neil May 31 '16 at 07:53
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    The time taken by the bee to turn around is also necessary to determine the answer. With that taken into account, the answer is most certainly not infinite. As the trains come close enough, the time required for their collision will become less than the bee's "turnaround time", the bee won't keep up, and the supposed infinite sum ends there. – Masked Man May 31 '16 at 07:53
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    Don't forget Planck's constant. Eventually Heisenberg's uncertainty principle will bite the bee and you won't be able to tell exactly how close the bee is to the train. It may have touched or not. It may still be flying at 120 mph, or it might not. – Paul Chernoch May 31 '16 at 13:52
  • @PaulChernoch Like I've said below: "If it's a motion problem on math stackexchange you should assume classical physics unless stated. Otherwise it shouldn't be on math stackexchange." –  May 31 '16 at 15:19
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    I like to pose this problem as "two trains are blah blah blah.. a fly... blah blah, how far apart are the trains when they collide?" You can get people to do a surprising amount of math before they realize they are solving an unasked problem. – Eric Lippert May 31 '16 at 16:45
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    @EricLippert Also, if the trains collide exactly on the border between countries, where will they bury the survivors? – Michael May 31 '16 at 17:49
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    hi @Hailey. You should understand that this question is *only about the mathematical abstraction "points"*. It is utterly, completely, totally, fully, meaningless - totally meaningless - in the "real world". There are absolutely no "points" whatsoever in the real world. If you asked this question over on the physics site, you'd get an answer relating to the quantum (or whatever) behavior of photons, fields, or some such. Understand that the question is no more exciting than asking (say) "Can I keep adding one to a number, forever?!" The answer is: "yes so what". Numbers do not exist. – Fattie May 31 '16 at 18:00
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    @Michael: In Grant's tomb, obviously. :) – Eric Lippert May 31 '16 at 18:27
  • @EricLippert Another problem I am fond of is the "Now pay attention because this is some tricky arithmetic! You are driving a bus. At the first stop you pick up... blah blah blah, next stop people get on and off, blah blah blah. Who is driving the bus?" It's humorous because you can just see the wheels turning as people try to keep track in their head exactly how many people are on the bus only to be totally unprepared at the end. – Michael Sep 20 '19 at 16:44

9 Answers9

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Here is some graphical intuition for understanding why the bee touches trains infinitely often.

The bee's trajectory in space-time is a zig-zag path which is self-similar; if you zoom in onto successive pairs of turnarounds, you get a copy of the original:

Bee at 120 mph

So the bee touches both trains infinitely often, in a finite amount of time. The duration of time between successive touches gets shorter and shorter.

To make it obvious without needing to zoom, take a faster bee (or slower trains). Here is what happens for a bee 10 times as fast:

Bee at 1200 mph

EDIT. Given the discussion about bees of nonzero length, here's what happens to a 20 mile long bee going at 1200 mph:

20 mi bee at 1200 mph

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We can prove that the bee touches both trains infinitely many times.

Suppose at some time the bee is at the nose of one train, and it flies to the other train. Then it will arrive at the other train earlier than the two train meets, since its speed is larger than any train.

The process repeats, and thus the bee will touch both trains infinitely many times.

Eclipse Sun
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  • You're missing something here. You are comparing the bee's speed to that of a single train but you should actually do that to the relative velocity of the trains which is larger than the bee's velocity. Wouldn't the sum of the lengths of the bees trip converge to a number? – TheRandomGuy May 30 '16 at 07:51
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    @Dhruv: No, comparing it to the speed of a single train is fine. Any time it leaves a train, it'll outrun that train and reach the other train first. – user2357112 May 30 '16 at 07:55
  • @user2357112 But the lengths of the bee's trips keep getting smaller. They would ultimately converge to a number. – TheRandomGuy May 30 '16 at 07:56
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    @Dhruv: The sum of the lengths of the trips converges, but the questioner already knows that. The question isn't about the total travel distance. – user2357112 May 30 '16 at 07:56
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    @user2357112 Oh! So you mean as the distance keeps on getting smaller the bee will move between the two trains. I see. But doesn't this hold only when the bee's size is considered negligible or 0. Otherwise the bee would get crushed. – TheRandomGuy May 30 '16 at 07:58
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    @Dhruv The bee only travels the distance between the trains minus the length of the bee, assuming it turns around exactly when it touches the other train. So, as the trains approach being one bee-length apart, the bee will make infinitely many journeys. (And only then will the bee meet an unfortunate end) – Milo Brandt May 30 '16 at 13:51
  • The bee cannot turn around in zero time, so the answer is most certainly not infinite. When the trains are far apart, that time is negligible compared to the overall duration of the bee's trip, but as the trains close in, it becomes significant. – Masked Man May 31 '16 at 07:50
  • @lastresort Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The bee turning in zero time implies infinite speed, which is impossible. – Masked Man May 31 '16 at 14:30
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    @MaskedMan No, it has infinite acceleration at the turnaround, but the speed is never more than 120 mph. –  May 31 '16 at 14:41
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    @MaskedMan: This is a mathematical problem. Why you try to get physics into it. I guess everyone here is aware of that: Newton invented his Laws to oppress this kind of super bees, which impede the travel of approaching trains. – Zaibis May 31 '16 at 14:43
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    @Zaibis Agreed. If it's a motion problem on math stackexchange you should assume classical physics unless stated. Otherwise it shouldn't be on math stackexchange. –  May 31 '16 at 14:50
  • @lastresort Why should I assume that? Who made that rule? Anyway, even with your classical physics, it is impossible for the bee to maintain the constant speed of 120 mph, as the turnaround time becomes significant. To begin with, you might want to consider how speed is measured. That aside, it is impossible for the bee to turn around with infinite acceleration without something at infinite speed. For instance, an electrical signal going from the bee's brain to its body to trigger the "turnaround" should happen in zero time, which means information travels at infinite speed. – Masked Man May 31 '16 at 16:06
  • @Zaibis A problem is a problem, you cannot say, let us divide it into physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, zoology, etc. and then let us only consider the mathematics part. If a problem is based on reality, you should consider it in its entirety, and not create an artificial problem filtering out what you are uncomfortable dealing with. – Masked Man May 31 '16 at 16:09
  • @MaskedMan Classical mechanics permits instant turnarounds and infinite acceleration. The bee is a rigid body and forces applied to it accelerate the whole body instantaneously. However if you want to continue debating, then the appropriate place to do that would be a chat room. –  May 31 '16 at 16:39
  • @lastresort You still haven't answered my question. Who made the rule, and why should I assume classical mechanics? – Masked Man May 31 '16 at 17:18
  • @MaskedMan you should indeed not assume any mechanics at all for this problem not involving any. Moreover, your an electrical signal going from the bee's brain to its body to trigger the "turnaround" should happen in zero time argument is blatantly false, as the signal could be generated $t$ seconds before the bee touches the train, where $t$ is the time required for the signal to travel to its body to trigger the "turnaround". – dbanet Jun 01 '16 at 01:27
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    @MaskedMan moreover, if you so are a fan of considering the problem(s) in its entirety, the pure possession of a bee capable of exerting an infinite force would just pretty much make everyone agree that you have, indeed, solved the problem the most elegant, brilliant and single possible way. Instantly. – dbanet Jun 01 '16 at 01:32
  • @MaskedMan: exactly that is what I can do, and is done very often just to seperate solution finding. Or would you want an elementary school teacher to teach the pupils in their first lesson that "If Emma has 3 apples and gives one of them to John, she has 2 apples while John has probably something between 0.99...x~0.99....x2 Apples in respect to half-life periods. If now Emma eats 1 of her apples she has left? exactly: 1 and 11/71 of an apple, what we determined by calculating the relation from the apple core volumina to the whole apple".... I never noticed this, probably due to seperation. – Zaibis Jun 01 '16 at 06:56
  • @Zaibis With your so-called separation, you also end up with bizarre statements like a certain Mathematics professor made, "if the last engine (of the airplane) goes off, we will land in infinite time." We are not talking about elementary school problems here, where it is explicitly necessary to handwave certain details. The solution to a problem shouldn't depend on which website it is posted on. – Masked Man Jun 01 '16 at 07:41
  • @MaskedMan You don't get the point. This is a theoretical question, where we try to observe a specific behaving of a model or just to learn how to view on specific models. For the same reason depending on the context, it would be totally legit that an airplane lands in infinite time... Thats why we are ahndwaving here aswell.... Or are you in fear OP could plan to perform this experiment to check the outcome? I mean OP explicitely says the bee turns "immediately". So thats a given constraint. And for the same reason I won't argue with you about it any further. This is junhelpfull noise... – Zaibis Jun 01 '16 at 07:49
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The trains are approaching each other at $150$ miles per hour. Since they are $150$ miles apart, they meet in 1 hour. So the bee flies for 1 hour.

The speed of the bee is given to be $120$ miles an hour, so it travels a total of $120$ miles, because it gets 1 hour to fly before getting squashed.

Also, if the bee is assumed to be a point, it touches both the trains an infinite number of times. The distance travelled can also be calculated by the sum of the infinite series. This is of course assuming that the bee takes 0 time in turning around.

In a similar way, it is impossible to determine which train it last sits on, unless there is a specific amount of time taken in turning around.

Pratyush Yadav
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  • what trick? just sum the infinite series. also is a specific amount of time enough information to determine which final train? – shai horowitz May 30 '16 at 07:28
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    The question was: "It is easy to determine the distance travelled by the bee. But how to determine how many times it touches first/second train? or which train it touches last?" This answer seems to give only answers to the actual questions but I don't quite see how this answer explains the answers. – JiK May 30 '16 at 11:30
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Okay. In 5/6 an hour the bee has flown 100 miles and the second train has traveled 50 miles. The bee has met the train. The bee has done the first half of the first jag.

The first train has gone 75 miles. The bee turns around to fly toward the train 25 miles away from it. In 25/210 = 5/42 of an hour the bee reaches the first train.

It had taken the bee 5/6 + 5/42 = 20/21 hours to do the first jag. The trains are now 150x1/21 miles apart.

The bee must repeat the jag but only go 1/21 the distance so it takes 1/21 the time. If we add up how long each of these jags were the bee flies from the first to the second train and back and how long it takes the total is

$20/21+20/21*1/21+20/21*(1/2)^2+20/21*(1/21)^3+.... $

An infinite sum.

It adds up to

$20/21 (1+1/21+(1/21)^2+(1/21)^3+...)=$

$20/21 [\frac {1}{1-1/21}]=20/21 [\frac {1}{20/21}]=20/21*21/20=1$ hour.

So the bee flew for 1 hour. Did an infinite number of jags each taking an exponentially shorter period of time that add up to 1 hour and 120 miles.

That's how you do it with math and infinite sums and limits without doing the trick of figuring how long the trains take.

===

Okay. You are probably wondering how I did the infinite sum and got 21/20.

Well. IF the sum $1 + a+a^2+a^3+... $ does add up to something finite then:

$(1-a)(1+a+a^2+....)=$

$(1+a+a^2+...)-(a+a^2+a^3+...)=1$

So $(1+a+a^2+...)=\frac {1}{1-a} $

So $1+1/21+(1/21)^2+(1/21)^3+...=\frac {1}{1-1/21}=21/20$.

=====

Okay, I have to note first time I made a calculation error and thought the first train traveled 90 and not 75 miles in the first half jag. Oddly enough this didn't effect the outcome as the result was still that each jag is proportionally smaller by the factor it took to do the first jag. No matter how badly I do the math, the jags are proportionally smaller by the inverse of the first time, so the sum will always be an hour.

Likewise, I switched which train the bee started at. That likewise makes no difference.

fleablood
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  • It might be easier to try this with easier numbers. The trains are 1 mile apart. They each go 1 mph. The bee goes 2 mph. In 1/3 an hour the bee and train meet at the 1/3 mile mark and the first train is at to 2/3 mile mark. The bee does the second in 1/3 the time. The total time it takes is 1/3+1/9+1/27.....= 1/2. – fleablood May 30 '16 at 07:47
  • It doesn't change the overall methodology, but you have the train speeds reversed relative to the OP question which changes the actual numbers. "The first train goes 60 miles per hour; the second train rushes along at 90 miles per hour...". So, correcting your first statement: "In 5/6 of an hour the bee has flown 100 miles and the second train has traveled ̶5̶0̶ 75 miles..." (note, this is more than the starting 150 miles so further results require recalculation with another fraction of an hour) ---> – Kevin Fegan May 30 '16 at 19:49
  • And your second statement: "The first train has gone ̶9̶0̶ 50 miles. The bee turns around to fly back to the first train ̶1̶0̶ 25 miles away from it (150-(75+50)). ### Using 5/7 (instead of *5/6*): In 5/7 of an hour the bee has flown 85.7 miles and the second train has traveled 64.3 miles (total 150 miles). The first train has gone 42.85 miles. The bee is 42.85 miles (150-(64.3+42.85)) away from the first train. ... ... – Kevin Fegan May 30 '16 at 20:05
  • meh, .... the bee still does the first "full jag" in 37/42 of an hour and each jag is 5/42 as long, right? Lessee... dammit. I made an error in my post. The first train is at 75 mark not 90 so it takes 25/210 = 5/42 of an hour not 1/21 so the jag takes 5/6 + 5/42 = 20/21. Your jag also takes 20/21 of a jag so it doesn't really matter. What's interesting (maybe) is that even with my error the result is the same. But that's not actually surprising whatever time I got for the first jag every subsequent jag would be proportional so the sum would still be the same. – fleablood May 30 '16 at 21:08
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That would be infinite.
Both the number of times it touches the trains, and which train it touches last cannot be determined. Read about Zeno's paradox, specifically the tortoise and Achilles.
Here is the link:

novice
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    How it can be infifnite?after a finite amount of time train crashes.then bee will not fly.So,it must be finite no. – Hailey May 30 '16 at 05:43
  • Well, read up xeno's paradox, and also read the story about Achilles and the tortoise. The bee's trip between the two trains keeps getting smaller but never reaches 0. Dichotomy paradox: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ZenosParadoxes.html – novice May 30 '16 at 05:46
  • Read up on converging infinite series. An infinite sequence of infinitely decreasing amounts adding up to a finite amount is not in the least bit paradoxical or even unexpected. Take this for instant. Start with 0. We want to get to 1. So we always add half of what we need. 1/2+1/4+1/8+... as we add half of what we need we can always add so so we can do this infinitely. But we never add up to more than 1. – fleablood May 30 '16 at 06:39
  • Yes you are right on converging infinite series, but the question was how many times the bee completes its journey, and which train it is finally at rest. Please do read up on Dichotomy paradox. – novice May 30 '16 at 06:45
  • @Hailey : The bee would have completed infinite steps before the trains crash. – novice May 30 '16 at 06:51
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    It's a finite amount of time but the time each jag takes is proportionally small. The first jag takes $a $ of an hour. The second jag takes $a^2$ of an hour. The third $a^3$ of an hour. And $a +a^2+a^3+... =1$. That's not impossible. It can happen if $a=1/2$. In this case the actual math is $37/42 (5/42 + 5^2/42^2 +5^3/42^3+...)=1$ – fleablood May 30 '16 at 07:05
  • @fleablood Yes, I got your point, but the question was how many trips the bee will make, and who and which train it tags last. The former being infinite and the latter indeterminate. – novice May 30 '16 at 07:16
  • Okay... that question doesn't have an answer. The answer is infinite times each. In practicality the bee will rest or will make imperfect legs or if worse comes to worse ...well something fails. – fleablood May 30 '16 at 07:56
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    I was answering the question "how can it be infinite". It can because...infinite sums and so on. There's infinite values but they are exponentially smaller. That's how. – fleablood May 30 '16 at 07:58
  • The philosopher's name is spelled Zeno – March Ho May 30 '16 at 11:37
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It will be infinite. You cannot apply the logic that the quantity will be finite as the trains collide in finite amount of time because that would be the case in real world where the bee cannot turn back in infinitesimally small amount of time.

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Once you accept that the bee touches each train a countable infinity of times, it is important to realize that the question of which train it touches last does not make sense. The bee touches one train on the odd number touches and the other on even touches. You are asking whether the largest natural is odd or even, but there is no largest natural.

Ross Millikan
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The whole sad matter ends with a catastrophic event for the fly, shortly followed by a catastrophic event for the trains.

At the point where the distance between the two trains is less than the length of a fly, the fly cannot turn around and fly back anymore. At the point where the distance is less than the space a fly needs to live, the fly is dead.

The exact time the fly goes in one direction depends on which train it is approaching; the speed the fly approaches that train is either 210 km/h or 180 km/h. So you can calculate what happens during two flights and that will turn into a simple geometric sequence. Which ends after very few iterations with a dead fly.

gnasher729
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  • The length of the bee doesn't matter. And the bee gets crushed either way. Whether the bee is infintisimally or a mile long the two trains will eventually cover 150 miles - bee length. The principal is the same and it will always be a finite time with a finite flight but never "a few" iterations. It will always be an infinite iteration. – fleablood May 31 '16 at 04:34
  • Not to mention, we should explore what happens when a bee slams a train an infinite number of times at 150 miles per hour. The effect compounds and you'd end up with the amount of energy you'd expect to see in a nuclear explosion. – Neil May 31 '16 at 08:34
  • @Neil It's not a nuclear explosion, it's much much worse than that. It's an infinite amount of energy and will set off a wavefront of destruction, moving at the speed of light, that destroys the universe. Except that the same amount of energy was presumably already contained in the bee, so it should already have destroyed the universe. – Mike Scott May 31 '16 at 11:15
  • @MikeScott Well, the problem is being considered in the classical sense, so no quantum or relativistic effects. The speed of the bee is constant, so it's kinetic energy does not change either. If you are still worried, take the bee to be massless. The trains and bee ought to be ideal solids, able to withstand force of order $\delta(0)$ to allow instantaneous change of direction. Likely the trains will safely rebound off of each other elastically. –  May 31 '16 at 13:13
  • @lastresort If the bee is massless then things get more worrying. Because if it has no rest mass then it's travelling at the speed of light, which implies that the speed of light is 150mph, and so the trains travelling at 60 and 90 miles per hour are at 0.4c and 0.6c and should be experiencing significant relativistic effects. – Mike Scott May 31 '16 at 13:24
  • @MikeScott It's non-relativistic. –  May 31 '16 at 13:25
  • @MikeScott Well if we're assuming neither the bee nor the trains (nor the planet itself) are destroyed, then yes. Otherwise, it would just be a measly nuclear explosion (the bee must be able to withstand getting slammed by two trains, so I am assuming it survives). – Neil Jun 01 '16 at 09:16
  • @lastresort I think the point is that it isn't a realistic question, but it is fun to imagine. – Neil Jun 01 '16 at 09:17
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Here we derive some recurrence relations to determine position and times the bee meets one of the trains.

Scenario:

We consider the interval $[0,150]$ on the $x$-axis with train $A$ starting at time $t=0$ at position $x=0$ and train $B$ starting at the same time from $x=150$. Train A moves with $60$ mph towards B whereas train B moves with $90$ mph towards A.

The bee starts at time $t=0$ from $x=0$ towards $B$ with $120$ mph. It meets $B$ the first time at position $B_1$ after time $t_1$. At that time we denote the position of train $A$ with $A_1$. Then it turns around flies back to $A$ and meets $A$ at position $A_2$ after time $t_2$ while the train B is at position $B_2$ at that time. Then the bee turns around again and continues this dangerous game.

We denote the positions of the train A with $A_n$ and the positions of the train B with $B_n$, $n\geq 0$.

Note the bee meets the train $A$ at even positions $A_{2n}$ and it meets the train B at odd positions $B_{2n+1}$. The delta time between $A_{n}$ and $A_{n+1}$ is denoted with $t_{n+1}$ which is the same as the time between $B_{n}$ and $B_{n+1}$. We consider the following sequences

\begin{array}{rlllll} \text{Train A: }&A_0=0,&A_1,&A_2,&\ldots &A_{n},\ldots\\ \text{Train B: }&B_0=150,&B_1,&B_2,&\ldots &B_{n},\ldots\\ \text{Delta times: }&t_0=0,&t_1,&t_2,&\ldots &t_{n},\ldots\\ \text{Bee: }&A_0=0,&B_1,&A_2,&\ldots&B_{2n-1},A_{2n},B_{2n+1},\ldots \end{array}

We show the following is valid for $n\geq 0$

\begin{align*} A_{2n}&=60\left(1-\frac{1}{3^n7^n}\right)\qquad&B_{2n}&=150-90\left(1-\frac{1}{3^n7^n}\right)\\ A_{2n+1}&=60\left(1-\frac{2}{3^n7^{n+1}}\right)\qquad&B_{2n+1}&=150-90\left(1-\frac{2}{3^n7^{n+1}}\right)\\ \\ t_{2n}&=\frac{5}{3^n7^n}\\ t_{2n+1}&=\frac{5}{3^n7^{n+1}} \end{align*}

A first plausibility check shows \begin{align*} \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}A_{2n}=\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}A_{2n+1} =\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}B_{2n}=\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}B_{2n+1}=60 \end{align*} The trains will meet each other after one hour and since the speed of A is $60$ mph and it started from $x=0$ at $t=0$ its position is at $x=60$ after one hour. The same holds for $B$ since B moves with $90$ mph from $x=150$ and $150 - 90 = 60$.

Recurrence relations:

The bee meets the train A at delta time $t_{2n}$ at position $A_{2n}$ and then flies with $120$ mph towards the train B. We can calculate the next meeting point $B_{2n+1}$ with train B as \begin{align*} A_{2n}+120 t_{2n+1}&=B_{2n}-90 t_{2n+1}\\ t_{2n+1}&=\frac{1}{210}\left(B_{2n}-A_{2n}\right)\tag{1} \end{align*} The positions of A and B after delta time $t_{2n+1}$ are \begin{align*} A_{2n+1}=A_{2n}+60t_{2n+1}=\frac{5}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{2}{7}B_{2n}\tag{2}\\ B_{2n+1}=B_{2n}-90t_{2n+1}=\frac{3}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{4}{7}B_{2n}\tag{3} \end{align*} Similarly the bee meets the train B at odd indexed delta times $t_{2n+1}$ at position $B_{2n+1}$ and then flies with $120$ mph towards train A. We describe the next meeting position $A_{2n+2}$ with train A and obtain \begin{align*} B_{2n+1}-120 t_{2n+2}&=A_{2n+1}+60 t_{2n+2}\\ t_{2n+2}&=\frac{1}{180}\left(B_{2n+1}-A_{2n+1}\right) \end{align*} The positions of A and B after delta time $t_{2n+2}$ are \begin{align*} A_{2n+2}=A_{2n+1}+60t_{2n+2}=\frac{2}{3}A_{2n+1}+\frac{1}{3}B_{2n+1}\tag{4}\\ B_{2n+2}=B_{2n+1}-90t_{2n+2}=\frac{1}{2}A_{2n+1}+\frac{1}{2}B_{2n+1}\tag{5} \end{align*}

From these equation we derive recurrence relations for odd and even $A_n$ in terms of $A_{n-1}$ and $A_{n-2}$ and we do the same for $B_n$.

We obtain from (2) - (5) \begin{align*} A_{2n+2}&=\frac{2}{3}A_{2n+1}+\frac{1}{3}B_{2n+1}\\ &=\frac{2}{3}A_{2n+1}+\frac{1}{3}\left(\frac{3}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{4}{7}B_{2n}\right)\\ &=\frac{2}{3}A_{2n+1}+\frac{1}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{4}{21}\left(\frac{7}{2}A_{2n+1}-\frac{5}{2}A_{2n}\right)\\ &=\frac{4}{3}A_{2n+1}-\frac{1}{3}A_{2n} \end{align*} and \begin{align*} A_{2n+1}&=\frac{5}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{2}{7}B_{2n}=\frac{5}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{2}{7}\left(\frac{1}{2}A_{2n-1}+\frac{1}{2}B_{2n-1}\right)\\ &=\frac{5}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{1}{7}A_{2n-1}+\frac{1}{7}\left(3A_{2n}-2A_{2n-1}\right)\\ &=\frac{8}{7}A_{2n}-\frac{1}{7}A_{2n_1} \end{align*}

In the same way we derive for odd and even $n$ a representation of $B_n$ in terms of $B_{n-1}$ and $B_{n-2}$. \begin{align*} B_{2n+1}&=\frac{8}{7}B_{2n}-\frac{1}{7}B_{2n-1}\\ B_{2n+2}&=\frac{4}{3}B_{2n+1}-\frac{1}{3}B_{2n} \end{align*}

With the help of (1) and (2) we can calculate $A_1$ and obtain a fully specified recurrence relation for $A_n$:

\begin{align*} A_{2n+1}&=\frac{8}{7}A_{2n}-\frac{1}{7}A_{2n-1}\qquad\qquad n\geq 1\tag{6}\\ A_{2n+2}&=\frac{4}{3}A_{2n+1}-\frac{1}{3}A_{2n}\qquad\qquad n\geq 0\tag{7}\\ A_0&=0\\ A_1&=\frac{300}{7} \end{align*}

$$ $$

Generating function for $A_{n}$:

We derive based upon the recurrence relation for $A_n$ a generating function $A(x)$ with \begin{align*} A(x)=\sum_{n= 0}^\infty A_nx^n \end{align*} Since we have according to (6) and (7) to respect even and odd part separately we do it in two steps and consider the even part $(A(x)+A(-x))/2$ and odd part $(A(x)-A(-x))/2$ of the generating function accordingly. We start from (7) and replace for convenience $n$ with $n-1$. We derive from \begin{align*} A_{2n}&=\frac{4}{3}A_{2n+1}-\frac{1}{3}A_{2n}\qquad\qquad n\geq 1\\ \end{align*} the generating function \begin{align*} \sum_{n= 1}^\infty A_{2n}x^{2n}&=\frac{4}{3}\sum_{n= 1}^\infty A_{2n-1}x^{2n}-\frac{1}{3}\sum_{n= 1}^\infty A_{2n-2}x^{2n}\\ \frac{A(x)+A(-x)}{2}-A_0&=\frac{4}{3}x\sum_{n= 0}^\infty A_{2n+1}x^{2n+1}-\frac{1}{3}x^2\sum_{n= 0}^\infty A_{2n}x^{2n}\\ &=\frac{4}{3}x\cdot\frac{A(x)-A(-x)}{2}-\frac{1}{3}x^2\cdot\frac{A(x)+A(-x)}{2} \end{align*} Noting that $A_0=0$ we obtain after some rearrangement \begin{align*} A(x)(x^2-4x+3)+A(-x)(x^2+4x+3)=0\tag{8} \end{align*} Now the odd part (6). We obtain \begin{align*} \sum_{n=1}^\infty A_{2n+1}x^{2n+1}&=\frac{8}{7}\sum_{n= 1}^\infty A_{2n}x^{2n+1}-\frac{1}{7}\sum_{n= 1}^\infty A_{2n-1}x^{2n+1}\\ \frac{A(x)-A(-x)}{2}-A_1x&=\frac{8}{7}x\cdot\frac{A(x)+A(-x)}{2}-\frac{1}{7}x^2\frac{A(x)-A(-x)}{2} \end{align*} with $A_1=\frac{300}{7}$ we obtain \begin{align*} A(x)(x^2-8x+7)-A(-x)(x^2+8x+7)=600x\tag{9} \end{align*}

Combining (8) and (9) we can eliminate $A(-x)$ and obtain after some simplifications and partial fraction decomposition \begin{align*} A(x)&=\frac{300x(x+3)}{(x-1)(x^2-21)}\\ &=\frac{60}{1-x}+180\frac{2x+7}{x^2-21}\\ &=\frac{60}{1-x}+180\left(\frac{2\sqrt{21}-7}{42\left(1+\frac{x}{\sqrt{21}}\right)} -\frac{2\sqrt{21}+7}{42\left(1-\frac{x}{\sqrt{21}}\right)}\right)\\ &=60\sum_{n= 0}^\infty x^n+\frac{30}{7}(2\sqrt{21}-7)\sum_{n= 0}^\infty \left(-\frac{1}{\sqrt{21}}\right)^nx^n\\ &\qquad\qquad\qquad-\frac{30}{7}(2\sqrt{21}+7)\sum_{n= 0}^\infty \left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{21}}\right)^nx^n\\ &=60\sum_{n= 0}^\infty x^n-\frac{60}{7}\sqrt{21}\sum_{n= 0}^\infty \frac{1-(-1)^n}{\left(\sqrt{21}\right)^n}x^n -30\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1+(-1)^n}{\left(\sqrt{21}\right)^n}x^n\\ &=60\sum_{n= 0}^\infty x^n-\frac{120}{7}\sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{1}{21^n}x^{2n+1} -60\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1}{21^n}x^{2n}\\ &=60\left(\sum_{n= 0}^\infty x^n-\sum_{n= 0}^\infty \frac{2}{3^n7^{n+1}}x^{2n+1} -\sum_{n= 0}^\infty \frac{1}{3^n7^n}x^{2n}\right)\tag{10} \end{align*}

We can now easily deduce the coefficients $A_n$ from (10). \begin{align*} A_{2n}&=60\left(1-\frac{1}{3^n7^n}\right)\\ A_{2n+1}&=60\left(1-\frac{2}{3^n7^{n+1}}\right) \end{align*} and the first part of the claim follows. According to (2) we obtain after some rearrangement \begin{align*} B_{2n}&=\frac{7}{2}A_{2n+1}-\frac{5}{2}A_{2n}\\ &=150-90\left(1-\frac{1}{3^n7^n}\right) \end{align*} and we get using (3) \begin{align*} B_{2n+1}&=\frac{3}{7}A_{2n}+\frac{4}{7}B_{2n}\\ &=\frac{3}{7}A_{2n}+2A_{2n+1}-\frac{10}{7}A_{2n}\\ &=2A_{2n+1}-A_{2n}\\ &=150-90\left(1-\frac{2}{3^n7^{n+1}}\right) \end{align*} which is the second part of the claim. Finally we obtain \begin{align*} t_{2n+1}&=\frac{1}{210}\left(B_{2n}-A_{2n}\right)=\frac{5}{3^n7^{n+1}}\tag{11}\\ t_{2n}&=\frac{1}{180}\left(B_{2n-1}-A_{2n-1}\right)=\frac{5}{3^{n}7^{n}} \end{align*} showing the last part of the claim is valid.

Epilogue: Of course we know the game is over after one hour and the distance travelled by the bee is $120$ miles. But we could also check it based upon the calculations above.

The total time the bee is flying is according to (11) \begin{align*} \sum_{n=0}^\infty\left(t_{2n+1}+t_{2n+2}\right) &=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\left(\frac{5}{3^n7^{n+1}}+\frac{5}{3^{n+1}7^{n+1}}\right)\\ &=\left(\frac{5}{7}+\frac{5}{21}\right)\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{1}{3^n7^n}\\ &=\frac{20}{21}\frac{1}{1-\frac{1}{21}}\\ &=\frac{20}{21}\cdot\frac{21}{20}\\ &=1 \end{align*} which is precisely one hour. The distance travelled by the bee is according to the last result \begin{align*} 120t_1+120t_2+120t_3+\cdots=120\sum_{n=0}^\infty\left(t_{2n+1}+t_{2n+2}\right)= 120 \end{align*} miles.

Markus Scheuer
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