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Lion and Man Problem


A lion and a man in a closed arena have equal maximum speeds. What tactics should the lion employ to be sure of his meal? This problem was stated by Rado in 1925 (Littlewood 1986).

An incorrect "solution" is for the lion to get onto the line joining the man to the center of the arena and then remaining at this radius however the man moves. Besicovitch showed the man had a path of safety, although the lion would come arbitrarily close.


See also

Pursuit Curve

Portions of this entry contributed by Ed Pegg, Jr. (author's link)

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References

Croft, H. T. "'Lion and Man': A Postscript." J. London Math. Soc. 39, 385-390, 1964.Janković, V. "About a Man and Lions." Mat. Vesnik 2, 359-361, 1978.Littlewood, J. E. Littlewood's Miscellany. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1986.O'Connor, J. J. and Robertson, E. F. "Abram Samoilovitch Besicovitch." http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Besicovitch.html.Rado, P. A. and Rado, R. Math. Spectrum 7, 89-93, 1974/75.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Lion and Man Problem

Cite this as:

Pegg, Ed Jr. and Weisstein, Eric W. "Lion and Man Problem." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/LionandManProblem.html

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