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gaimon
Oct22-06, 06:39 PM
Here I am again...
Two people start at the same place and walk around a circular lake in opposite directions. One has an angular speed of 1.66E-3 rad/s, while the other has an angular speed of 3.24E-3 rad/s. How long will it be before they meet?

What I have done so far is to set 3.24t + 1.66t=2Pi

so t(4.9)=2Pi therefor t=1.282 s

or so I thought...problem is that it's wrong.
So then what am I doing wrong?
Any help is appreciated.

radou
Oct22-06, 06:52 PM
Here I am again...
Two people start at the same place and walk around a circular lake in opposite directions. One has an angular speed of 1.66E-3 rad/s, while the other has an angular speed of 3.24E-3 rad/s. How long will it be before they meet?

What I have done so far is to set 3.24t + 1.66t=2Pi

so t(4.9)=2Pi therefor t=1.282 s

or so I thought...problem is that it's wrong.
So then what am I doing wrong?
Any help is appreciated.

Btw, where did the 'E-3' parts dissapear?

gaimon
Oct22-06, 07:02 PM
i thought that that was just notation
what does it really mean?

radou
Oct22-06, 07:04 PM
i thought that that was just notation
what does it really mean?

1.66E-3 = 1.66\cdot 10^{-3}. It is usually written in text form as 1.66*10^-3, rather than 1.66E-3.

gaimon
Oct22-06, 07:11 PM
i can't believe that was all I had to do
been struggling for hours
Thank you so much!