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Re: Okay Guys,The Final Train Crash. Re: Minimum Distance

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Posted by Jonathan/">Jonathan on November 12, 1998 18:57:47 UTC

I think you guys may be missing the point. Let's take a train approaching a brick wall at a speed of 1 m per second. In principle, it is possible for the train to decelerate for ever by continually halving it's progress. EG, if the train only goes 50 cm, then half that distance (25cm) then half that distance (12.5cm) and so on then it will never hit. This is a classic asymptotic function where a value approaches 0 but never quite reaches it. HOWEVER, that was an 'IF' only. In principle, if the train DOES NOT halve it's progress then the collision WILL occur (which is what happens in reality).

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