For the outdoor enthusiast who enjoys free, online logic puzzles and brain teasers.

Perilous Pine - Logic Puzzle - Brain Teaser

by K. Venator

Help a hiker figure out if the tent is a safe distance from a menacing dead tree.

Imagine yourself hiking through the woods. 

It's getting late in the afternoon and you're getting tired. The backpack you've been carrying for the last 10 miles is starting to feel

 heavy. You enter the campground and see a wonderful campsite by the river. It doesn't take long to set up the tent and you begin to prepare your dinner of Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper made with a dehydrated, veggie-burger meat substitute (note: this is a lesson to try your meal experiments at home first.  Dehydrated veggie-burger meat substitute failed to satisfy even the hungriest hiker). ;-)

As dinner simmers, you take a walk down by the river. You notice the sound of the running water, birds chirping and watch a distant neighbor catch trout. It's been almost a full 2 days since you saw another person. You continue looking around and suddenly realize that there's a large, dead tree standing precariously close to your camp. The tree is very tall and appears unstable. It occurs to you that the tree could easily fall down and perhaps land on your tent (with you inside). As you slept, a fierce wind could topple the tree. A few small trees might attempt to slow the fall; but would offer futile resistance. Branches at the top of the tree threaten to turn you into a shish-ka-bob.

Assuming that the tree will fall directly toward the tent, how can you determine if the tent is a minimum safe distance from the tree?

You do not know the height of the tree and do not have a measuring tape.

Perilous Pine logic puzzle by Kevin Venator - based on actual experience.

Visual aid (click the thumbnail image above to see a larger photo).  Possible solutions often demonstrate an understanding of math.

Cheat - go to the solution page

If you enjoy logic puzzles, you'll enjoy The Dell Book of Logic Problems #2.  Dell Publishing, 1986. I've worked through the first 10 of the 12 easy logic puzzles and enjoy them a lot. They are creatively written and utilize deductive reasoning over math or wordplay.  Each puzzle is accompanied with a chart to help you eliminate options en route to the solution.  The book includes 75 logic puzzles organized by difficulty:  Easy, Medium, Hard and Challenger. Click the picture to buy it from Amazon.com.   Click the graphic above to see all of the Dell Logic Problem books.

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Copyright 2002 K. Venator