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Math Puzzle for October 3, 2025

Posted By On In Puzzles | Comments Disabled

Spaceman Spiff races photons trying to beat Einstein to the edge of the universe

Alameda Post - A math puzzle diagram. Two space ships are depicted next to each other. On the left, a spot at the top of the left ship is marked with a small burst. The height of that spaceship is marked little d. The right space ship indicates where the space ship travels to over time. On the right space ship, the small burst is now on the underside of the spaceship. The distance from the nose of the left space ship to the nose of the right space ship is marked capital D. [1]

Spaceman Spiff is racing across the known universe at a relativistic speed. Inside his spaceship, he has a crude speedometer rigged.

He fires a photon from the top of his Spaceship to the bottom of his Spaceship. That photon travels a total distance of d = 98.208 feet.

A light illuminates at the photon’s release; a second light illuminates at its finish. Between flashes, Spiff, measured from Earth, travels D = 1.00259004 miles. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.

Find Spaceman Spiff’s speed S.

Send your answer to [email protected] [2] and you might win a Tucker’s gift card.

Last week’s winner [3] was John Lovato with A = 2,025 square meters.

Jeff Smith is a former Math teacher and a retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander. Reach him at [email protected] [2].