I am disappoint.

We're all drawing the same diagrams. I think we all picture it perfectly. What we disagree on is what it means to go around something. It's all relative. The skwirlell might think it's going around the guy.

Relative to the ground, the guy is going around the sqirelle. See the diagram cm drew and the one footsie drew in the bottom corner..

And the hunter does go around the muzzle of his gun.

Edit: And if I edit infinite Monkey's picture, it's showing how the man is going around the squerl.

It might help if you ignore the tree. The hunter circles the tree, not the squiwwel.

Dear disappoint footfootfoot:

Does the hunter in your diagram circle the tree?

like this?

Okay, now move the hunter closer to the tree-rat, really close.

Yes that is what I was thinking. Again the issue is "Perhaps the squirrel doesn't stay ON the tree. However, I thought that was the implication. "

Why does distance matter? The hunter isn't on the tree.

If someone is at home with you right now then try it.

Stand up facing each other and 'circle' around as if you are wrestlers about to grapple, one in a slightly tighter arc. Is the one on the outside circling the other?

It doesn't, that's what I was trying to say in a rather awkward way!

The squirrel is making a circular path whose center point is the center of the tree. And the hunter is making a circular path with a center point that's the center of the tree. The hunter's circle is larger than the squirrel's circle. The squirrel's circle is entirely inside the hunter's circle. We agree on this, right?

If the squirrel made a circle that was so small, the center point was inside the body of the squirrel, would the hunter be circling the squirrel then? For example, say the squirrel had its paw resting on the top of the tree as it was running around the other side. Is the hunter going around the squirrel then?

What about if the squirrel is standing on the top of the tree and rotating so it was always facing the hunter? Is the hunter going around the squirrel then?

At some point, the hunter has to be going around the squirrel. When is that point?

What if the hunter and the squirrel are always on the same side of the tree - does that change anyone's answer?

I'm with IM on this one.

glatt, my illustration sucks, but in my mind both the man and the squirrel are circling the tree. I guess what I was showing was what it would take for the man to walk around the squirrel.

And I'm sorry for losing it earlier. A lot on my plate, and a trigger word. Jim and I have spoken, but I wanted to say I'm sorry to everyone. :(

"Sorry for ruining your black panther thread" foot.

I like footfootfoot's illustration. I don't agree with his conclusion because I don't agree with his reasoning.

What if the tree in his picture were a lazy susan in the middle of a round table. As the hunter walks around the table, does he walk around the lazy susan? What if the lazy susan is rotating in the same direction and at the same speed as the hunter? What if the lazy susan is stopped?

HLJ, do you believe the hunter has circled the tree?

If I walk around your house when you're home, have I circled your house? Have I circled you? In what way does it matter how you're moving inside your house as I circle it with respect to my circling you?

ps, please don't shoot me, I'm just trying to make a point, not looking for a way into your house.

As Deming would say, we can't agree on an answer without appropriate operational definitions.