A shipe leaves NY for San Fransisco on the first of every month at noon. At the same time, a ship leaves San Fransisco for NY. Each ship arrives exactly 6 months after it leaves. If you were on a ship from NY, how many ships from San Fransisco would you meet?
To find out how many ships from San Francisco you would meet, we need to analyze the schedule and the time it takes for both ships to complete their journey.
Each ship leaves its respective city on the first of every month at noon and arrives exactly 6 months later. This means that there are 12 ships departing from each city in a year - one for each month.
Let's consider your scenario where you are on a ship departing from NY.
Since the ships depart at the same time and the journey takes exactly 6 months, on any given month, the ship from NY will meet the ship from San Francisco if they are at the halfway point of their journey.
To calculate the halfway point, we divide the 6 months by 2, which gives us 3 months. Therefore, after 3 months, your ship from NY will meet the ship from San Francisco.
Now, since there are 12 ships leaving from San Francisco in a year, your ship from NY will have the opportunity to meet each of these 12 ships on separate occasions.
In conclusion, if you are on a ship leaving from NY, you would meet 12 ships from San Francisco during your journey.