The Lucas Ship Problem

travel duration

7

show meetings

Every day at noon a ship leaves Le Havre for New York and another ship leaves New York for Le Havre. Each trip lasts seven days and seven nights. How many ships going east will a ship leaving Le Havre today meet during its journey to New York? Can you answer graphically?

Details

This problem was invented by Edoard Lucas, a French nineteenth-century mathematician.

References

[1] B. A. Kordemsky, The Moscow Puzzles, London: Penguin, 1990 p. 108, 273.

External Links

Rowing to Shore and Then Running Away

Sylvester's Postage Stamp Problem

Permanent Citation

Izidor Hafner

"The Lucas Ship Problem"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/TheLucasShipProblem/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: April 10, 2014