Lion and Man -- Can Both Win? — mentioned by ultrafilter

Sat, 20 Jul 2013 20:47:11 GMT

The man's escape strategy described in the post was discovered in 1952 by Besicovitch. It has a kind of discontinuity because, quoting the post, "There are 2 perpendicular paths. Choose the one closest to the center, or if the two paths are equally close, then either one is fine." In simple terms, the man will eventually make a wrong turn (with probability 1) unless he can instantaneously measure distances with perfect accuracy. Surprisingly, for every continuous man strategy, there is a continuous lion strategy that can catch the man by time T where T is the disc radius divided by the lion's…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Lion and Man -- Can Both Win? — mentioned by tylerneylon

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:48:50 GMT

This is a problem you can be sure you've solved, only to find a twist in the road. It's problem 1 in The Art of Mathematics by Béla Bollobás, a challenging puzzle book for serious math junkies. The solution in that book has a good explanation of (a) what you probably didn't think of, and sounds right; and (b) why it's wrong. And just when you think Bollobás's book had the final word, you found out there are versions of the puzzle when both players can win. What? Don't take my word for it: http://arxiv.org/pdf/0909.2524.pdf

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Lion and Man -- Can Both Win? · HackerPapers discussions

Lion and Man -- Can Both Win? — mentioned by ultrafilter

Lion and Man -- Can Both Win? — mentioned by tylerneylon