Chapter 2 - Motion in One Dimension

Problem 3
Question
A room has the dimensions 10 ft × 12 ft × 14 ft. A fly starting at one corner
ends up at a diametrically opposite corner. (a) Find the displacement vector in
a frame with coordinate axes parallel to the edges of the room. (b) What is the
magnitude of displacement? (c) Could the length of the path traveled by the fly
be less than this distance? Greater than this distance? Equal to this distance?
(d) If the fly walks rather than flies, what is the length of the shortest path it
can take?

Answer
(a) The fly ends up at the furthest corner, giving it a displacement
√ vector of ~x =
(10, 12, 14). (b) The magnitude can be found to be |~x| = 102 + 122 + 142 = 21
m. (c) The displacement vector gives the shortest path, meaning the fly’s actual
path could be equal to or greater than this distance. (d) To walk along the walls,
the shortest path would consist of treating two walls as one ”side”, and walking
diagonally along this side directly to the end point. (Unfold a box, find the
two points, and draw lines.) The choice then comes down to which two walls
to combine into the single side. If we have walls with lengths x, y, and z, and
combine the first two walls, the total distance walked using this method will be:

d2 = (x + y)2 + z 2 = x2 + y 2 + z 2 + 2xy.

Because the first three terms are symmetrical, we aim to minimize the last one.
Minimizing 2xy simply means making x and y as small as possible. Thus our fly
will diagonally walk the length of the 10 m wall while walking part way down
the 14ft wall, and then walk the length of the 12 m wall while walking the rest
of the way down the longer wall. Thus, the total distance walked will be:
p q
2 √
d = x2 + y 2 + z 2 + 2xy = |~x| + 2xy = 440 + 240 = 26 m.