Question

Two ice cream stands are deciding where to set up along a 1-mile-long beach. The people are uniformly located along the beach, and each person sitting on the beach buys exactly 1 ice cream cone per day from the nearest stand. Each ice cream seller wants the maximum number of customers. True or False: The two stands will most likely be 1/3 mile away from each other. True

Answer 1

Each ice cream seller wants the maximum number of customers:

True

The two ice cream stands will most likely be 1/3 mile away from each other.

True

Explanation:

This distance enables the two ice cream stands to give access to the maximum number of customers at the beach, which will be almost equal at their right-hand and left-hand sides. Therefore, the two ice cream stands will most likely be 1/3 mile away from each other. Such positioning exposes the ice cream stands to almost equal number of customers since the people standing along the beach are uniformly located. Taking the extreme locations along the 1-mile-long beach will shrink location opportunities for both stands.