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© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
The puzzle: A bookworm (there are many species, including the book louse) has found a tasty ten-volume set of books on a bookshelf. Each book is 5 centimeters thick (pages + 2 covers) and has a cover that is 0.5 centimeters thick. The bookworm begins eating at page one of volume one, and eats to the last page of volume ten, eating through covers and pages. What distance did he travel, during his feast?
The answer: Most people do not get this one
right. On the left we see that our bookworm does not eat any of the pages of
the first and last volumes, because page 1 of the first volume is on the side
toward the other nine volumes, and similarly, the last page of the last volume
is on the side toward the other nine volumes. So our bookworm eats through
eight entire volumes, and two covers, or 41 cm.