Escape Safely to The Ground!

You find yourself trapped at top an 800 foot tall building. The surrounding land is completely flat, plus there are no other structures nearby. You need to get to the bottom, uninjured, and can only safely fall about 5feet.

You look down the four walls; they are all completely smooth and featureless, except that one of the walls has a small ledge 400feet above the ground. Furthermore, there are two hooks, one on this ledge, and one directly above it on the edge of the roof. The only tools you have are 600feet of rope, and a knife.

 How do you get to the bottom? 

This should be your strategy! 

Strategy To Land Safely On The Ground

Why strategy needed to be planned?

1.Tie one end of the rope to the to hook and climb down to the ledge.

2. Cut (without dropping) the rope that hangs below the ledge, then climb back to the roof carrying the extra rope that you cut. You now have two lengths of rope: one that is 400 feet long and one that is 200 feet long.

3.At the top, untie the rope from the hook.

 Now setup the ropes like : Tie a small loop at one end of the 200-foot long rope. String the 400-foot long rope through the loop so that half of its length is on either side of the loop. Make sure that the loop is snug enough that the 400-foot long rope won't fall out by itself, but loose enough that you can pull the rope out later.

4. Now, tie the end of the 200-foot rope without the loop to the first hook. The 200-foot long rope lets you climb halfway to the ledge. 

5.For the remaining 200 feet, you carefully climb down the 400-foot rope, which hangs down 200 feet from where it is held by the loop. 

6.Once you get to the ledge, pull the 400-foot rope out of the loop.

7. Finally, tie it to the second hook, and climb the rest of the way to the ground.

"Share The Walk; Share The Ride!"

You and I have to travel from Startville to Endville, but we have only one bicycle between us. So we decide to leapfrog: We’ll leave Startville at the same time, you walking and I riding. I’ll ride for 1 mile, and then I’ll leave the bicycle at the side of the road and continue on foot. When you reach the bicycle you’ll ride it for 1 mile, passing me at some point, then leave the bicycle and continue walking. And so on — we’ll continue in this way until we’ve both reached the destination.

Will this save any time? 

You say yes: Each of us is riding for part of the distance, and riding is faster than walking, so using the bike must increase our average speed.

I say no: One or the other of us is always walking; ultimately every inch of the distance between Startville and Endville is traversed by someone on foot. So the total time is unchanged — leapfrogging with the bike is no better than walking the whole distance on foot.

Who’s right?

Look who is right in the case! 

"Okay, I'm Wrong in the Case!"

Where I went wrong?

That's going to save time for sure.

Let's assume that the distance between Startville and Endville is 2 miles. And suppose we walk at the same speed of 4 mph and ride bicycle at the speed of 12 mph.

Then I will travel for first 1 mile in 5 minutes leave the bicycle and start walking thereafter. You take 15 minutes to reach at the point to pick up bicycle and ride next mile. For next mile, I need 15 minutes as I am walking & you need only 5 minutes ride on bicycle. So exactly after 20 minutes we will reach at Endville.

And what if we had walked entire 2 miles distance? It would have taken 30 minutes for us to reach at the destination.

One thing you must have noticed, each of us walked for 1 mile only and ride on bicycle for other mile which saved 10 minutes of our journey. Imagine it as if we had 2 bicycles where we ride 1 mile in 5 minutes, leave bicycles and walk next mile in another 15 minutes.

So my argument in the case is totally wrong. It would have been correct if I had waited for you after finishing 1 mile ride on bicycle and then started to walk next mile. 

In that case, you will reach at the destination in 20 minutes but I need 30 minutes as I wasted 10 minutes in middle. 

Conclusion: 

My argument - 

"One or the other of us is always walking; ultimately every inch of the distance between Startville and Endville is traversed by someone on foot."

tells only half story.

Yes, ultimately every inch of the distance between Startville and Endville is traversed by someone on foot but the distance that each of us walk is equal though different parts of journey. And for the rest of distance we ride on bicycle where total time required for journey is saved.