Problems of the Week

At Ferris I coordinate the math department's Problem of the Week series. I get some student solutions (although some of the response is based on the fact that I give my own students little bits of extra credit for solving them). Most of the problems are understandable to the non-math public (well, at least the questions are, but not necessarily the solutions). The latest one is this (the 64th problem since I started a few years ago):

64. You are somewhere on the Earth, which we'll assume is a perfect sphere. You travel 1 mile south, 1 mile east, and 1 mile north, and arrive exactly where you started. Where on Earth might you be? Surprisingly, there are lots of answers -- describe at least two of them.

If you want more, see the link at right.

Anyway - other professors notice the problems as well. One of my colleagues suggested I just post a picture of President Bush. Another professor, from a different department (and whose name I don't know), offered me this today:

How come a mirror reverses images left to right, but not up and down?

At first it may seem like an easy question, but I don't think a satisfying explanation is all that simple. I'm pretty sure I understand it, but it's more subtle than it felt at first. Or, I'm just dumb. Hmmm...