Can You Solve the Pier Puzzle?
(via Physics Girl) This math brainteaser challenges you to find a simple, elegant solution to a seemingly complex problem! Can you figure it out? There are two towns near a shore. They want to build a pier on the shoreline with a path connecting the pier to each town. They want to use as little material as possible, so they need to put the pier in a location on the shoreline that minimizes the total length of both paths added together. Where should they put the pier? This video was inspired by a brainteaser in the book “Brainteaser Physics: Challenging Physics Puzzlers” by Göran Grimvall.
