I am sorry but i think This is wrong answer. when it is said that it does not burn at uniform speed how can you expect a half rope to be burn in 30 minutes only. It can be case that half rope is burnt in 1 min and other half takes 59 minutes to burn.
Mohit:
August 27th, 2014 at 7:29 am
Agree with Akshay. Can anyone please explain the answer a bit more who feels that this is the correct solution. Thanks.
Nick:
September 8th, 2014 at 7:16 pm
I agree with Akshay and Mohit. Please explain why rope #2 would burn in 30 minutes. It’s not enough to note that 60/2 = 30!
Sean:
August 1st, 2019 at 8:05 pm
The rope may burn at any rate, but burning twice as fast (i.e. burning from both ends) at any combination of rates equalling one hour total will then equal half an hour total. The same is true of the remaining half-hour’s worth of rope #1.
Hazel:
May 22nd, 2021 at 4:36 pm
I think the rope-burning connection to thinking has more to do with work as people handled work at the time. You are thinking very hard, but your thinking is so simple that you are using a rope on a pulley to lift your thoughts, and you are working so hard at thinking, hoisting your thoughts, that the rope is burning.
It’s similar to saying that a person trying to solve a problem is “banging his rocks together really hard.”
In the early 1900s, one might say a person couldn’t think of an answer if he thought it through with both hands for a fortnight.
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Hale:
October 10th, 2012 at 2:24 am
Thanks so much for this post – my friends really enjoyed this puzzle also.
Found a great answer here as well:
2 Ropes 45 Minutes
Akshay Mone:
July 25th, 2014 at 1:08 am
I am sorry but i think This is wrong answer. when it is said that it does not burn at uniform speed how can you expect a half rope to be burn in 30 minutes only. It can be case that half rope is burnt in 1 min and other half takes 59 minutes to burn.
Mohit:
August 27th, 2014 at 7:29 am
Agree with Akshay. Can anyone please explain the answer a bit more who feels that this is the correct solution. Thanks.
Nick:
September 8th, 2014 at 7:16 pm
I agree with Akshay and Mohit. Please explain why rope #2 would burn in 30 minutes. It’s not enough to note that 60/2 = 30!
Sean:
August 1st, 2019 at 8:05 pm
The rope may burn at any rate, but burning twice as fast (i.e. burning from both ends) at any combination of rates equalling one hour total will then equal half an hour total. The same is true of the remaining half-hour’s worth of rope #1.
Hazel:
May 22nd, 2021 at 4:36 pm
I think the rope-burning connection to thinking has more to do with work as people handled work at the time. You are thinking very hard, but your thinking is so simple that you are using a rope on a pulley to lift your thoughts, and you are working so hard at thinking, hoisting your thoughts, that the rope is burning.
It’s similar to saying that a person trying to solve a problem is “banging his rocks together really hard.”
In the early 1900s, one might say a person couldn’t think of an answer if he thought it through with both hands for a fortnight.