# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/41 "2007-04-10T09:50:09Z")
“Troll, leave my two little brothers alone!” he said gruffly. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/42 "2007-04-10T16:18:01Z")
allo, you burned my goat, prepare to fry! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/43 "2007-04-11T02:10:56Z")
[I don’t have the solution but I think these people do.](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43014) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/44 "2007-04-11T03:28:37Z")
I was laughing to myself all afternoon while thinking of that problem. My coworkers must think I’m insane. (They might be right, but that’s beside the point.) And yes, I solved the problem. The thing is, that’s a _huge_ farm. 12 miles by 5 miles? A goat that burns for an hour? Since the original problem has been answered well, allow me to scale down the problem to something a bit more reasonable: Instead of 5 miles and 12 miles, the distances are 500 feet and 1200 feet. The goat can survive for one minute (not one hour) before dying. Everything else stays the same; the running speeds are still 25 mph and 6 mph. How does the goat fare now? ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/45 "2007-04-11T03:38:33Z")
Wow. That problem really got my goat. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/46 "2007-04-11T08:13:48Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] I was laughing to myself all afternoon while thinking of that problem. My coworkers must think I’m insane. (They might be right, but that’s beside the point.) And yes, I solved the problem. The thing is, that’s a _huge_ farm. 12 miles by 5 miles? A goat that burns for an hour? Since the original problem has been answered well, allow me to scale down the problem to something a bit more reasonable: Instead of 5 miles and 12 miles, the distances are 500 feet and 1200 feet. The goat can survive for one minute (not one hour) before dying. Everything else stays the same; the running speeds are still 25 mph and 6 mph. How does the goat fare now? [/QUOTE] The goat’s toast. It’s got one-sixtieth of the time it had before but the distances are 1/52.8 - in other words, it has proportionately less time than it had before, and since it didn’t have enough time in the original problem, it doesn’t have enough time now. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059/47 "2007-04-11T09:09:31Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] The goat’s toast. It’s got one-sixtieth of the time it had before but the distances are 1/52.8 - in other words, it has proportionately less time than it had before, and since it didn’t have enough time in the original problem, it doesn’t have enough time now. [/QUOTE] What if the goat is on a treadmill? Wait, did we do that joke already? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burning-goat/399059.md?page=2)