This is bugging me

[addyb]

A man walked one mile south, then one mile west and then one mile north - where did he start?

I think the answer is either the Equator or the North or South Pole - anyone out there know the answer - Thanks

[brachiopod]

He could be starting anywhere he likes. I can walk 'one mile south, then one mile west and then one mile north' from my house.

If, as I suspect, the full question you are trying to ask is "A man walked one mile south, then one mile west and then one mile north and ends up in the same place", then the answer is the North Pole.

[landie]

One mile East

[Quizmaster]

I've heard this one before i believe he started at the North pole

[landie]

Draw it on a piece of paper to a scale of one inch to the mile and yoy will see that you have made a U shape with a flat bottom. If you imagine standing at the last point you reached you will note that your starting point is one mile east. 

[stu1749]

North Pole

[brachiopod]

landie, unless you are at the North Pole, you will always be west of your original position. By how much, depends on the latitude of your start position.

[brachiopod]

Sorry, see what you mean now. I'm getting confused because I thought the question was incomplete..

The start point would however be <1 mile to the East starting in the Northern Hemisphere, and >1 mile to the East starting in the Southern Hemisphere.

[landie]

I stand by my original answers. If you follow the given instructions you will end your journey one mile west of where you started. So where did you start from? One mile east.

[brachiopod]

"you will end your journey one mile west of where you started. So where did you start from? One mile east"

-

Not if you were at the North pole though. Or any point 1.159 miles from the South Pole for that matter.

At these locations you would end up back where you started, so your start point is where you are standing, not one mile East.

[landie]

I think that for the purposes of the enquirer, addyb, the simple answer, which I have already given, will be sufficient.

[Marsh]

If brachiopod is right and this is the traditional question in which the walker arrives back at his starting point, the simple answer is indeed the North Pole.  There are, theoretically, many other places he can start from, however.  If he starts from a point anywhere on the circle lying  (1+ π) miles north of the South Pole he will walk South for a mile a mile, circle the pole exactly once and then retrace his steps north to his starting point.  If he starts (1+ π/2) miles above the pole he will circle it twice before retracing his steps.  Similarly for 1 + π/3 miles, 1+ π/4, etc.  If he starts from (1+ π/100) miles, he will have a real problem walking in a straight line on the last leg of his journey

[Marsh]

Sorry, my figures should have been 1+ π/2, 1+ π/4, 1+ π/6, etc.

[landie]

I think your missing the point of quite a simple question and perhaps confusing the original enquirer.

The answer is One mile East.

[jno]

but the answer isn't one mile east if you start at the north pole... it's: right here. So it depends where you start from.

[landie]

Of all the places to chose from, what are the odds on starting from the north pole?