Publishedin the May 1983 issue of the diary Mathematics Teacher , this awesome math problem challenges students to locate the USS Enterprise ’s missing first military officer — in 50 minute or less — using range and straightedge . Are you up to the task , cadet ?
This is acompass - and - straightedge constructionmath problem , so you ’ll demand to put down your laptop computer and do this previous school . The map of the Star Trek galaxy — complete with the Romulan Neutral Zone and Tholian Web — is reproduced below , play along by the original stone’s throw - by - measure instructions .
Now , go find Spock .
Instructions:
These are the ocean trip of the starship initiative . Its five - year mission — to explore strange new earth , to seek out newfangled living and new refinement , to boldly go where no human race has move before . Wait a minute … Where ’s Spock ? Spock ? Spock ? We ’ve got to find Spock !
Your designation , as Captain of this starship , is to help the crew of the Enterprise find its first military officer , Spock . To do this , you must find ten Modern points on the accompanying chart . To find these point , stick to in order the directions collapse . You have only fifty minute before your control is repeal and you are reassign to menial work . In following the guidance , use the encircle point that are part of each object pictured . The Romulan impersonal zona should be consider as a production line .
l. Warp out oforbit to find item 1 midway between the Klingon ship and Earth .
2 . To find point 2 , go forward three - fourths of the distance from point 1 to Apollo ’s hand . ( The point on Apollo ’s helping hand is on the watchband . )
3 . To find percentage point 3 , change class by 45 ° in a counterclockwise direction , head toward the Romulan neutral zone until you intersect the wrinkle that bisects the angle formed by the planet killer , the Tribble asteroid , and the Jupiter 2 .
4 . Take an immediate class change head up straight for the nova from degree 3 . You will find point 4 at a length equal to three times the aloofness between the border of the galaxy and the Enterprise .
5 . The nova ’s oestrus drives your crowd berserk , and they misplace dominance of the ship . You find yourself at stage 5 when you regain control . percentage point 5 is an adequate space from point 4 , the clock time portal , and the planet killer .
6 . From period 5 , under seal orders , proceed to point 6 , which is at the edge of the Romulan neutral zone . Be sure to take the shortest itinerary . ( To keep your worksheet from getting too littered , you may desire to move degree 6 to a light copy of the canvass . )
7 . After action your mission at the edge of the Romulan indifferent zona , return toward the Enterprise . To avoid a distance radiotherapy belt , you cease at dot 7 , which is one - third ofthe space between point 6 and the initiative .
8 . Starfleet Command instructs you to proceed to guide 8 along a personal line of credit that is parallel to the parentage between the time portal and the asteroid belt . You find place 8 on this line at a aloofness equal to the distance between point 7 and the Tribble asteroid .
9 . Meteor shower ! You slew off line to find point 9 . It is where the vertical personal credit line from point 8 intersects the line between the Klingon ship and the planet killer .
10 . You find Spock at stop 10 , which is equidistant from the three lines that link point 9 , the Tholian web , and the asteroid belt .
CONGRATULATIONS to those of you who found Spock ! You will proceed to ripe math where you will pick up your commissions . The rest of you … get your ling and get to oeuvre .
EducationmathStar Trek
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