You walk 1 mile due south,then 1 mile due east,then 1 mile due north and wind up where you started.where r u?

Question

And you're NOT at the north pole.

By the way, you somewhere on the earth.
P.S. While the NORTH POLE is an answer, IT IS NOT THE ONLY ANSWER.

Answer 1

There are actually an infinite number of answers to this old puzzle. The traditional answer is of course, "You are at the North Pole."

This assumes that the walking "1 mile due east" portion is defined as "keeping the north pole directly left of you as you walk", or inversely, "keeping the south pole directly right of you as you walk". Thus when you walk to the east, you simply make a 1-mile arc about the north pole.

Another set of infinite answers is "any point 1 + 1 / (2 * pi) miles away from the soth pole". Following the directions, you will walk one mile toward the south pole, then walk one mile east which will take you *in a complete circle around the south pole*, then one mile back north to your starting position.

Following this logic, you can find an infinite number of circles as a solution. For example, "any point 1 + 1 / (4 * pi) miles away from the south pole" will have the easterly portion of the walk take you completely around the south pole *twice*. And "any point 1 + 1 / (6 * pi)" will walk you around the south pole three times, etc.

Answer 2

Physically, the only place you could be is the North Pole. At the South Pole, the first direction will always be North.
Otherwise, it would depend on your definition of North, South and East. You could be at the center of a polar plot where, by definition, any direction away from center is South, any direction towards center is North and any direction where the center is always on your left is East.

Answer 3

If you are on Earth, It can only be the North Pole. For it to be the South Pole, your first step would have to be North. If not on Earth, then you could be walking about a cone where you start from the pointy end.

Answer 4

The North Pole...

Answer 5

(after saying not at the North Pole). Assuming you are actually moving, and not on a running machine or similar...At any of the infitude of points 1 mile north of a line of latitude that has a circumference of 1/n miles (where n is an integer).

Answer 6

Due south would be walking 180 degrees, walking due east would be walking 90 degrees, walking due north would be walking 360 or 0 degrees. You would wind up perpendicular to where you first started or 1 mile due east of the starting point.

Answer 7

Hope you're wearing something warm. It's the North Pole. Only place where this can happen.

Answer 8

South pole?

Answer 9

You're wherever you started, like you said. If you ended in the same place you started, took the directions you tell, and only traveled in straight lines between all four points, you traveled in a square pattern. I'm not sure what you mean.

Answer 10

You're walking along a triangle.