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Old 11-27-2005, 12:58 PM
AaronBrown AaronBrown is offline
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: New York
Posts: 505
Default Re: General Math Question: Position on a circuit

Yes, zero is an even number.

I can't think of an appreciably easier way to get the answer. You might say 30 hours makes no difference, because the train is in the same place, so throw away 4*30 = 120 hours and pretend the train has been running for only 2. That gives the same 40 km. However, that's really the same thing as you did.

Calculus is not much help because of the discontinuities in the train speed. It would be useful if the train accelerated at some rate, or if the track followed some curve with no stops and turns around.
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