Season 3, Episode "Spree"Pre-Calculus

NUMB3RS - Season 3 - "Spree" - A Pursuit Curve Problem

Step 1 of 6

1The Four Bug Problem Setup

Imagine four bugs starting at the four corners of a square:

Bug $A$ starts at $(-5, 5)$
Bug $B$ starts at $(5, 5)$
Bug $C$ starts at $(5, -5)$
Bug $D$ starts at $(-5, -5)$

Bug $A$ continuously chases Bug $B$ , Bug $B$ chases Bug $C$ , Bug $C$ chases Bug $D$ , and Bug $D$ chases Bug $A$ . As they move towards their moving targets, their trajectories spiral inward.

Pursuit Field Simulation

Pursuit Ratio Progress:0.00

Polygon Parametrics

Number of Pursuing Entities (Bugs):4

Observe how changing the vertex count adjusts the meeting rates. Since the angle of approach scales with $n$ , a higher number of bugs causes a tighter logarithmic spiral orbit.

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