Potato Race- Distance / Amount

[Guest]

One hundred potatoes are placed on the ground in a straight line ten feet apart. The potatoes are to be picked up one at a time and placed in a container ten feet behind the line. The older competitor, Tom gives his younger opponent, Harry, the right to pick up one potato and place it in the container before Tom begins.

Calculate distance traveled by the competitor and number of potatoes each one collected. Thanks.

[Guest]

Is this taking place in "The Garden where the Praties grow" ........

100 spuds or tatties.....does that mean 99 spaces each 10 feet.....equals 990 feet long line of tatties.
Where is the pirty basket....10 feet "behind" the line....where...at the end....which end.......or in the middle
Do they have to "walk the line" or can they go as the "crow flies".

The competitors are Tom and Harry........could we not get Dick to give a helping hand.........????

[Guest]

The container is on the end where they started.

The problem did not state the route.

Answer given is a larger number.

Thanks again.

[Guest]

So I assume.....

Tom and Harry start standing beside container 10 feet in front of a line of 100 spuds each 10 feet apart, going off into the distance approx 1000 feet. I also assume they both walk continuously, one does not wait on the other delivering his next spud before going for their next. Tom waits on Harry delivering Harry's 1st spud before Tom starts and bot don't stop until all spuds are in the container or the other is well under way of collecting the last spud.

As an example "typed diagram"......
C = container, T=Tom, H=Harry, P=potato. ----- = the 10 feet spaces.

CTH----------P1----------P2----------P3----------P4--///----P98----------P99----------P100

As Harry is allowed to get his 1st spud without penalty (if there is a time or distance penalty??) I assume it would be in his interest to go and get P100 as this is the furtherest away. There is nothing to say the potatoes have to be collected in sequence, or they have to walk at a particular speed. If Harry can walk 10 times faster that Tom he will obviously collect more potatoes and will be more able to collect more of the near ones first.

This is supposed to be a race.....Who wins ??....The person with the most potatoes, or, the person who has walked the least, or the person who has walked the most, or do we calculate the number of potatoes collected per foot walked.

[Guest]

"The potatoes are picked up one at a time and placed in the container"...............

Can the competitor go out and he will pick up each separately but go on to the next and pick up several separately one after the other and carry the collection back.
OR must each be picked separately and each returned separately to the container before going out to get the next one picked up.

[Guest]

"Tom and Harry start standing beside container 10 feet in front of a line of 100 spuds each 10 feet apart, going off into the distance approx 1000 feet. I also assume they both walk continuously, one does not wait on the other delivering his next spud before going for their next. Tom waits on Harry delivering Harry's 1st spud before Tom starts and bot don't stop until all spuds are in the container or the other is well under way of collecting the last spud." -

All are collected. 1000 feet- larger number.

"This is supposed to be a race.....Who wins ??....The person with the most potatoes, or, the person who has walked the least, or the person who has walked the most, or do we calculate the number of potatoes collected per foot walked." -

Most potatoes and walked the most.

Thanks again.

[Guest]

Can you imagine it he wins on the most potatoes and walking the most
Harrryis a very fast walker and tom has a sore right foot an a sore toe on his leftfoot
Tom can only wlk very slowly
Harry takes the first nearest on his free start so tom has to walk 20 but harrry passes him and get back before ton gets to the third and so on so harry gets all the potatoes and tom gets none harry travels approx 9500 feet and tom only about 900 and doesent get to ant spuds

[Guest]

Error last post......
I meant approx 95000 for harry walked
Actually works out at approx 101000
And tom shuffles just under 1000 feet
Sum of n terms in an arithmetic series