To catch a Thief

                  Some time back while in England I came across a case in a criminal court. A man was being accused of having stolen certain valuable jewels and trying to run away with them. When he was caught by a smart police officer who overtook him.

         In cross examination the lawyer for accused asked the police officer how he could catch up with the accused that was already twenty seven steps ahead of him, when he started to run after him. ‘Yes sir, ‘the officer replied. ‘He takes eight steps to every five of mine.’

       ‘But then officer’, interrogated the lawyer, ‘how did you ever catch him, if that was the case?’

       ‘That’s easily explained sir,’ replied the officer,’ I have got a longer stride…. Two steps of mine are equal to his five. So the number of steps I required was fewer than his and this brought me to the spot where I captured him’.

         A member of the jury, who was particularly good at quick calculations did some checking and figured out the number of steps the police officer must have taken.

         Can you also find out how many steps the officer needed to catch up with the thief?

Answer: The Police Officer took thirty steps. In the same time the thief took forty- eight, which added to his start of twenty- seven that means he took seventy five steps. This distance would be exactly equal to thirty steps of the Police Officer.