Bookworm Riddle
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Riddle
A $3$-volume set of books is on the shelf of a library, volumes $1$, $2$ and $3$ going as normal from left to right.
A bookworm starts eating from the front cover of volume $1$ and works its way through the the back cover of volume $3$.
Then it eats its way through all $3$ volumes, right?
Solution
Wrong.
Just through volume $2$.
As can be seen, when the volumes are arranged on the shelf in the specified order:
- the front cover of volume $1$ abuts the back cover of volume $2$
- the front cover of volume $2$ abuts the back cover of volume $3$.
So the bookworm eats through volume $2$, from the back to the front.
Sources
- 1944: Eugene P. Northrop: Riddles in Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter One: What is a Paradox?