Hint to Puzzle #32: Two Creepers Climbing a Tree
32. Two creepers, one jasmine and other rose, are both climbing up and round a cylindrical tree trunk. Jasmine twists clockwise and rose anticlockwise, both start at the same point on the ground. Before they reach the first branch of the tree the jasmine had made 5 complete twists and the rose 3 twists. Not counting the bottom and the top, how many times do they cross?
It was the vertical aspect that confused me. I was trying to think of a time element where the tips of the plants would coexist.
Forget the vertical aspect, it's an illusion. Think of them like hands of a clock moving at different speeds and opposite directions. Working out those speeds is really the key to the solution.
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