How far does the caterpillar travel?
This problem is from Arnold’s “Problems for Children from 5 to 15” which you can buy as part of a compilation here. You can also find it in pdf form in many other places.
A very hungry caterpillar has found its way into my son’s Roald Dahl collection. It started at page one of Matilda, and it’s eating its way all the way to the last page of The BFG. If the front and back covers of each book are all 2 mm wide, and the pages of each book total 2 cm (20 mm), then how long is the caterpillar’s path?
Before you look at the solution, grab two books and look at where the first and last pages are. Does that change your answer?
