Process Approach to Coin Dragon


The Process Heuristic is a bundle of problem solving ideas based upon the following scheme:
Look on the situation as a change from initial state A to final state B. Invent some fictitious state C, for which changes from A to C and from C to B can both be easily found.

The blue coin has to roll a distance equal to half its circumference about the red coin. Let's do this via a fictitious intermediate stage:

Roll the blue coin horizontally a distance of half of its circumference

 

 

Initial      After Horizontal Roll-Out

 

Now wrap the roll-out about the red coin !!

Before the Wrap      After the Wrap



Another way of describing this solution is that it is a two step solution
For comparison, see

Process solution to Milko aka the Milk Bottle Problem
Reciprocity/Symmetry solution to the Coin Problem
Differential style solution to the Coin Problem
Einstein's solution to the Coin Problem
Homepage for the Coin Problem
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