Mike G Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Zeno's False Casts Zeno is fly casting to a Smallmouth 60 feet away. When he begins false casting, the fly is 30 feet from the bass. Each false cast cuts the distance from the fly to the fish in half. How many false casts will it take till the fly reaches the fish? Editor's note: This ancient riddle clearly shows that the ancient Greeks invented fly fishing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm M Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Zeno should move a little closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rich mc Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 i would say one backcast and one stop on the forward cast. rich mc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph at Orvis Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Depends. Does Zeno have a tennis match on the North Shore that day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 He'll never cover the entire distance. But he'll get darn close (close enough) pretty quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 I agree with Jude and Norm. He will not drop it on the fishes head, so I hope the fish is looking the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest airbornemike Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Zeno should learn a frickn double haul and do it in one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 It's probably a good thing that a certain Englishman isn't fishing along side him, though his head is a touch sore from a piece of falling fruit. His creation of integral calculus would allow him to put that fly right on the fishes nose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike G Posted January 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 It's probably a good thing that a certain Englishman isn't fishing along side him, though his head is a touch sore from a piece of falling fruit. His creation of integral calculus would allow him to put that fly right on the fishes nose. According to Xenophon, Zeno became fustrated that his fly never reached the bass. He gave up fly fishing and took up archery. The results were similar. His arrow, halving the distance to the target each second, never reached the target. Given lemoni, he made lemoni ade. He published the results of his experiment as Zeno's Paradox and has been famous ever since. Not bad for a guy that couldn't cast 60 feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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