How Late Did the Man Arrive to Catch the Train?

  • Thread starter Jenny Physics
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    kinematics
In summary, a man arrives T seconds late to a train station and watches the last three cars of the train pass by. The next-to-the-next-to-last car takes time t to pass by the passenger, the next-to-last car takes time t' to pass by and the last car takes time t'' to pass by. Assuming the train's acceleration a is constant, the value of T can be determined using the equations of kinematics and the known length of the train. However, if we assume that there is no elastic deformation of the train, only two of the three time measurements are necessary to determine T. This is because the third time measurement is related to the other two through a simple substitution, and the solution for T can be
  • #36
gneill said:
@Jenny Physics : Have you achieved in this thread, to your satisfaction, your goals in solving your mathematical puzzle?
Yes thank you all. I learned quite a bit.
 
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  • #37
Jenny Physics said:
Yes thank you all. I learned quite a bit.

Thank you @Jenny Physics . I believe that this thread has served it's original purpose. If others would like to continue the discussion of issues, suppositions, or conundrums related to the premise of the original puzzle, I suggest that that discussion be taken to one of the technical forums. The homework question here has been resolved.

I am closing this thread as it has served its initial purpose.

If anyone feels that there is something substantive and relevant to add to the solution of the original problem as posed, please feel free to PM a mentor to request that your submission be added.
 
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