4 ms·
Hmm, I don't think that the rope would hold up to being cut lengthwise.
by cool-RR 10y ago
Hmm, I don't think that the rope would hold up to being cut lengthwise.
- rdlecler1 10y agoIt depends on the thickness and material of the rope.
- quantumhobbit 10y agoMost ropes are twisted or braided. Cutting lengthwise would cut all of the threads completely destroying the rope. You could maybe unbraid the rope and deconstruct carefully into component threads and reconstruct into two ropes, Banak-Tarski(spell?) style. But that would be quite involved.
- tigershark 10y agoWhy not? Big ropes are made with smaller fibres entwined. It's not that difficult to obtain two smaller ropes from a bigger one provided that it is big enough.
- regularfry 10y agoHe doesn't say "cut", he says "split". A twisted rope can be split into two parts without damaging either.
- Terretta 10y agoEr, no. You're both substituting in the word from your mental model. "Yet he divides the rope in half, ties the two parts together..."
- regularfry 10y agoEr, no. From the article: > Which leads to one final question: how exactly did the prisoner with the insufficiently long rope manage to escape? The answer: he split the rope lengthwise, tied the two halves together and shimmied to freedom.
- Terretta 10y agoThat's not the proposition, that's the reveal.
- regularfry 10y agoSo what?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- QuercusMax 10y agoDoes it say cut? I thought it said the rope was split, which to me implies unraveling it.
- QuercusMax 10y agoDoes it say cut? I thought it said the rope was split, which to me implies unraveling it.
- loco5niner 10y agoNote that it is not being "cut" lengthwise, but instead is being "split" lengthwise... it's an important distinction. An alternative for split could be "un-braid". Some of the comments below yours seem to be confusing the 2 times the author mentions the dividing of the rope. The 1st is when he outlines the problem (at the beginning) >Yet he divides the rope in half, ties the two parts together, and escapes to his freedom. The 2nd is when the author provides the answer (at the end) > The answer: he split the rope lengthwise, tied the two halves together and shimmied to freedom.