Bear hunting question

“Two hikers hiked 5 miles south of camp. They then hiked 5 miles west. A bear jumped up and chased them 5 miles directly back to camp.

What color is the bear?”

“What???????????

8|”

“I like dark beer!”

“white... but not really, since they don't really live at the north pole... i'm afraid of them bears... oooh ;)”

“Technically, the bear could not chase them "5 miles directly back to camp" because their route "5 miles South and 5 miles West" would result in a "direct" distance of 7.07 miles back to where they started, assuming the entire course was level.”

“I cannot bear to hear anymore answers. The last was so grizzly.”

“Bizzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Incorrect answer Owl.

ALL of the clues to the correct answer is in the first message.”

“and the 4th?”

“Gold stars will issued to the TT's with the best answers tommorow.”

“It's a polar bear...like simer190 said.”

“It's an Alaskan Amber!

No, you said bear, not beer!”

“Bears don't "jump up"”

“The bear is white (except for his black nose.)

In certain instances a triangle can have three right angles.”

“White bear, each angle of the triangle would be 60 degrees on the inside angle. I think that this is called an isocelese (sp) triangle, but it has been a long time.”

“It is a white bear.

If you start at the north pole and hike 5 miles due south (true south) then 5 miles due west around the curvature of the earth (albeit slight), you are still 5 miles from the north pole.”

“You have to think of the problem as it would appear on a curved surface, not on a flat surface.”

“I thought we were huntin bears, not bears huntin us ! ! ! !”

“That's just amazing Chili. Good sleuthing!
How about it Stove???”

“Polar bears have bipolar disorder and get their roles confused Strat!”

“When did Biz start posting as StoveStomper?”

“White.

The first gold star goes to simer190 for the first correct answer (except polar bears have been reported at the north pole)

Buddur gets the second gold star for making me LOL.

Owl has been in math class too much. Some of the rest of you too little.

Gold stars to all for posting.”

“It's been a L-O-N-G week, I wanna gold star. Can I have one, PLEASE?!!!!”

“There are an infinite number of locations on earth where the scenario is possible, not just at the north pole. Review your spherical geometry and you will see.”

“Aha, Gordon finds the flaw! What color star does he get???”

“Gordon, you are correct that there are an infinite number of locations where the scenario could take place, in general. However, there is only one location where you could meet the specific criteria of the question (i.e. traveling precisely south, then precisely west and being equidistant from the point of origin).”

“Incorrect. It would also work in the region of the South Pole along one of several parallels.”

“But it is impossible to travel south from the South Pole.”

“Walking south from the south pole would be one h@ll of a feat.”

“Besides, what kind of bears inhabit Antartica?”

“Good one Foamfinger!

When I first stumbled onto this site I thought you all were rabid.
In a short while I realized most were very sharp people out to have fun and a backpacking trip or two.”

“The camp is 5 miles north of the parallel of latitude that is exactly 5 miles in circumference. Walking south 5 miles from camp puts you on that parallel. Walking 5 miles west returns you to the same point, in effect circumnavigating the earth. 5 miles north returns you to camp. It also works with parallels exactly 0.25, 0.5 miles, 1 mile, 1.25 miles, 2.5 miles, etc. in circumference. These are all in the region of the South Pole, not at the pole itself.”

“This is also assuming the earth is a true sphere, not an irregular oblate spheroid.”

“but then you would have to walk both west and east”

“Touche, Gordon! I stand corrected and happily enlightened.


But there is still no bear. ;)”

“Rabid? You want rabid? May I direct you to the "My left foot" thread? We got rabid!”

“This could made Gordon's answer correct.”

“The question is not whether there there are any bears native to Antarctica. The original statement says a bear jumped up. It is given a bear is present, native or not. Since there are no native bears to Antarctica, it is an introduced species. Since it is equally likely that any bear species is introduced over any other, e.g. polar, it is equally probable the bear is any color.”

“Gordo, you're losing me man. Introduced bears? The only thing close is introduced bares when the silly scientists streak the penguins for entertainment (one has to wonder how the penguins clap).”

“Chili, great thought about the curvature of the earth allowing it to be five miles.. A very logical mind you have, young jedi!”

“Thanks Artex, May the Force be with you.”

“That's a great riddle. I just told it here at work, they loved it!”

“Geobeet:

The problem states a bear is present. How it got there is irrelevant, it is given as a condition of the original question. If we allow that the scenario could occur either end of the earth (as I earlier demonstrated) then the Antarctic scenario must mean the bear is introduced.

So taking the original wording of the question there is insufficient data to make the determination. Making a blanket statement that the bear is white is incorrect.”

“If I ever need my hairs split, I'm sending them to you Gordo. You make a Philly lawyer look like a babe in the woods, man!”

“Gordo also wrote the clinton definition as well... It was his best work :)”

“Hello!I'm the bear and I'm new to TT....”

“Hello!I'm the bear and I'm new to TT....”

“This bear walks into a bar. Then he sits down and orders a beer.

The bartender, amazed that this bear can actually talk, gives him a beer.

The bear says, "What do I owe you?"

The bartender stops and thinks for a moment.

"Even though this bear is smart," thinks the bartender, "he probably hasn't been in many bars."

So the bartender says, "That'll be ten dollars."

The bear forks over the money and starts drinking his beer.

After a few minutes, the bartender can't restrain his curiosity, so he walks back over to the bear and
tries to strike up a conversation.

"You know, we don't get many bears in this bar."

The bear looks up from his beer and says, "Well, at ten bucks a beer, I'm not surprised."”

“Naw, wasn't me.

clinton got caught.”

“This bear and this rabbit were talking.

The bear asked the rabbit, "Do you have trouble with poop sticking to your fur?"

The rabbit said, "No."

So the bear picked up the rabbit and used it to wipe his butt.”

“One day a baby polar bear approaches his mother with a confused expression on his face and says,
"Mom? Am I a polar bear?"

"Well of course son!"

The cub replied, "You're sure I'm not a panda bear or a black bear?"

"No, of course not. Now run outside and play."

But the baby polar bear is still confused so he approaches his father.

The cub asks, "Dad, am I a polar bear?"

"Why of course son!" the papa polar bear gruffly replies.

The cub continues, "I don't have any grizzly bear or Koala bear in my bloodlines?"

"No son. I'm a polar bear, your mother is a polar bear, and by god you too are one hundred percent
purebred polar bear!! Why in the world do you ask?"

"Because I'm freezing my BUTT off!!"”