Paper 1, Section II, D
Part IB, 2020
A motion sensor sits at the origin, in the middle of a field. The probability that you are detected as you sneak from one point to another along a path is
where is a positive constant, is your distance to the sensor, and is your speed. (If for some path then you are detected with certainty.)
You start at point , where . Your mission is to reach the point , where . What path should you take to minimise the chance of detection? Should you tiptoe or should you run?
A new and improved sensor detects you with probability
Show that the optimal path now satisfies the equation
for some constants and that you should identify.