The 10 wrong answers are from BO-PEEP, FINANCIER, I. W. T., KATE B., M.
A. H., Q. Y. Z., SEA-GULL, THISTLEDOWN, TOM-QUAD, and an unsigned one.
BO-PEEP rightly says that the easterly traveller met all trains which
started during the 3 hours of her trip, as well as all which started
during the previous 2 hours, _i.e._, all which started at the
commencements of 20 periods of 15 minutes each; and she is right in
striking out the one she met at the moment of starting; but wrong in
striking out the _last_ train, for she did not meet this at the
terminus, but 15 minutes before she got there. She makes the same
mistake in (2). FINANCIER thinks that any train, met for the second
time, is not to be counted. I. W. T. finds, by a process which is not
stated, that the travellers met at the end of 71 minutes and 26-1/2
seconds. KATE B. thinks the trains which are met on starting and on
arriving are _never_ to be counted, even when met elsewhere. Q. Y. Z.
tries a rather complex algebraical solution, and succeeds in finding the
time of meeting correctly: all else is wrong. SEA-GULL seems to think
that, in (1), the easterly train _stood still_ for 3 hours; and says
that, in (2), the travellers met at the end of 71 minutes 40 seconds.
THISTLEDOWN nobly confesses to having tried no calculation, but merely
having drawn a picture of the railway and counted the trains; in (1),
she counts wrong; in (2) she makes them meet in 75 minutes. TOM-QUAD
omits (1): in (2) he makes Clara count the train she met on her arrival.
The unsigned one is also unintelligible; it states that the travellers
go "1-24th more than the total distance to be traversed"! The "Clara"
theory, already referred to, is adopted by 5 of these, viz., BO-PEEP,
FINANCIER, KATE B., TOM-QUAD, and the nameless writer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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