85: Paths

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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paths.jpg

Image Text

It's true, I think about this all the time.

Description

This comic centers around the consideration what shortest path is available to a person travelling by foot. Cueball has to travel a rectangular distance, which (I believe) is part over pavement and part over some other material not really meant to tread on (grass, sand or granite). When Cueball goes to follow the pavement, he has to walk for 60 seconds. But when he traverses using the non-walkable material, he can cut up to 26% of his time. So, he thinks every time he has to travel this rectangle, which is a very human question. Would you rather walk the straight path, or be kind of illegal (to some standards) and use the non-walkable material in your way?