# The Burning Goat **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059 "2007-04-07T01:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/1 "2007-04-07T01:15:33Z")
So, I post on Livejournal, and I subscribe to a group called Metaquotes, where folks basically post quotes from their friends LJ’s that they find to be funny or meaningful (usually funny). Today, someone posted a math word problem they wrote called “[The Burning Goat](http://community.livejournal.com/metaquotes/5988547.html)” It is not recommended that you drink anything while reading this, and it is very much worth reading. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/2 "2007-04-07T01:29:52Z")
What’s worse is, I worked out the problem. Did anybody get the same answer as I did? It’ll take the goat 1.068+ hours to reach the lake – so it dies a terrible death first. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/3 "2007-04-07T01:31:56Z")
[QUOTE=Scuba\_Ben] What’s worse is, I worked out the problem. Did anybody get the same answer as I did? It’ll take the goat 1.068+ hours to reach the lake – so it dies a terrible death first. [/QUOTE] Within sight of the lake, no less. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/4 "2007-04-07T01:49:41Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Within sight of the lake, no less. [/QUOTE] I calculated that the goat died 2,182 feet, 4.848 inches from the lake. Would that be within sight, or did I screw up the calculation? Could a goat see a lake that is about 7 football fields away, assuming flat ground? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/5 "2007-04-07T02:21:24Z")
[QUOTE=Rufus Xavier] I calculated that the goat died 2,182 feet, 4.848 inches from the lake. Would that be within sight, or did I screw up the calculation? Could a goat see a lake that is about 7 football fields away, assuming flat ground? [/QUOTE] African or European goat? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/6 "2007-04-07T02:31:25Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] African or European goat? [/QUOTE] Neither. Considering how fast it was traveling initially, I’d say it was more like a white-tailed deer. Or possibly an elephant. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/7 "2007-04-07T02:41:51Z")
hahahah, an entire thread in spoiler boxes! ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/8 "2007-04-07T03:18:22Z")
[QUOTE=Rufus Xavier] I calculated that the goat died 2,182 feet, 4.848 inches from the lake. Would that be within sight, or did I screw up the calculation? Could a goat see a lake that is about 7 football fields away, assuming flat ground? [/QUOTE] [spoiler]I got about the same: .414 miles or 2185 feet and 11.04 inches. Obviously I did not bother to round carefully. Here’s my math, for anyone who wants to try to decipher pencil scratching via digital photography. There’s some math there that didn’t make it, like the conversions to miles, etc. [Part One: sketch of farm and goat’s path](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/frenchified/miscellaneous034.jpg) [Part Two: Pythagorean Theorem](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/frenchified/miscellaneous035.jpg) [Part Three: Fun with Cross Products](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/frenchified/miscellaneous036.jpg)[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/9 "2007-04-07T03:39:10Z")
[QUOTE=Rufus Xavier] I calculated that the goat died 2,182 feet, 4.848 inches from the lake. Would that be within sight, or did I screw up the calculation? Could a goat see a lake that is about 7 football fields away, assuming flat ground? [/QUOTE] OK, I misread that as being ~4.8 inches, rather than two thousand feed and change, plus 4.8 inches. I was about to say, I _HOPE_ the damn goat can see something 5 inches in front of his face. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/10 "2007-04-07T03:45:10Z")
Myopic, burning goat? ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/11 "2007-04-07T03:54:21Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Myopic, burning goat? [/QUOTE] I burning your blind goat! quote=palmer\_kun So we have a Level 500 goat, with 2250 HP, and it lives! /quote :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/12 "2007-04-07T03:56:15Z")
Must be a 1920s style burning goat. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/13 "2007-04-07T04:18:54Z")
There are a number of possibilities for the goat’s apparent resilance to flame. [ol] [li]The Goat is Very Very Strong[/li][li]The Goat is wearing a sweater made from fire-retardant material[/li][li]Hi Opal![/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/14 "2007-04-07T06:00:18Z")
I got what **Scuba Ben** got, but I don’t get it. It’s a D&D thang? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/15 "2007-04-07T07:20:06Z")
I solved it too, but I forgot how to make a spoiler, so I’m going to improvise a reverse spoiler. From the 1st \*\*\*\* to the 2nd \*\*\*\*, highlight that text to read it. * * * Assuming the goat is smart and it runs along the hypotenuse of the triangle, it’s dead Jim. It will get to the lake in 64 minutes, so maybe it will just be badly scarred? If it dies upon en-flamation, it dies 0.8 miles short of the lake. I think I made some rounding errors though. * * * I’m pretty good at algebra and geometry, but Calculus hurts my head ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/16 "2007-04-07T07:23:56Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus] I solved it too I think, but I dont know how to make a spoiler. Testing this to see if it’s visible. [/QUOTE] Nope. Can’t see a thing. 😃 The tag for making spoiler boxes is {SPOILER}{/SPOILER}, with straight brackets instead of the curly ones, and with the spoiler in question going in between the boxes, just like a quote would. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/17 "2007-04-07T07:31:14Z")
The goat was running well once, for 20 minutes! (rounding down ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/18 "2007-04-07T07:32:42Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] [Spoiler]Nope. Can’t see a thing. 😃 The tag for making spoiler boxes is {SPOILER}{/SPOILER}, with straight brackets instead of the curly ones, and with the spoiler in question going in between the boxes, just like a quote would.[/Spoiler] [/QUOTE] [Spoiler]Thanks, now I’ll copy-paste my ghostly text here 🙂 Assuming the goat is smart and it runs along the hypotenuse of the triangle, it’s dead Jim. It will get to the lake in 64 minutes, so maybe it will just be badly scarred? If it dies upon en-flamation, it dies 0.8 miles short of the lake. I think I made some rounding errors though. [/Spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/19 "2007-04-07T13:28:57Z")
[SPOILER]You’re all nerds! I knew there was a reason I liked you. The maths makes my head hurt, but I have him dying about five miles away from the lake… am I doing something wrong? [/SPOILER] ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/20 "2007-04-07T14:15:07Z")
He’s dead Jim. I ball parked the math in my head, and saw the goat was a gonner. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059.md?page=2)