Daily Math Puzzle: 2026-10-27
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2026-10-27
A wildlife rescue team is systematically searching a 40-kilometer linear stretch of forest. They've divided this stretch into zones, with each zone being exactly 5 kilometers long. To ensure thorough coverage, they assign two rescuers to each point where two zones meet, and one rescuer to each absolute endpoint of the entire 40-kilometer stretch. How many rescuers are needed in total for this 40-kilometer search operation?
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Solution
16 — The 40-kilometer stretch is divided into zones, each 5 kilometers long. This means there are 40 / 5 = 8 zones.
Visualize these zones as segments:
[Zone 1] | [Zone 2] | [Zone 3] | [Zone 4] | [Zone 5] | [Zone 6] | [Zone 7] | [Zone 8]
1. **Points where two zones meet (internal boundaries):** With 8 zones, there are 7 such internal points (e.g., the boundary between Zone 1 and Zone 2, Zone 2 and Zone 3, ..., up to Zone 7 and Zone 8). Each of these 7 points requires 2 rescuers.
Number of rescuers for internal points = 7 points * 2 rescuers/point = 14 rescuers.
2. **Absolute endpoints of the entire stretch:** There are 2 absolute endpoints for the entire 40-kilometer stretch (the very beginning and the very end). Each of these 2 endpoints requires 1 rescuer.
Number of rescuers for endpoints = 2 points * 1 rescuer/point = 2 rescuers.
Total rescuers needed = 14 (internal points) + 2 (endpoints) = 16 rescuers.
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