Quote:
Originally posted by lordjeebus
It is not necessary that the ropes burn symmetrically for my (EDIT: and your) 30 second solution. If you light the ends simultaneously, you will burn from each end for the same duration of time because the burns terminate at the same time, when they reach each other. Because one burn will burn a whole rope for 60 seconds, two burns working at the same time will require exactly half the time.
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Thank you for the acknowledgement.
Yes, symmetry
is necessary. Consider a rope that burns the first 99% of itself in only 2 seconds but takes a full 58 seconds to burn the last 1%. Now, the funny thing about this rope is that it burns the same way in the other direction. So, if you were to burn both ends at the same time, it would burn for about 1 second, which is a far cry from our intended 30!