[jonnycat]

You're going to have to explain your math here, because I don't believe the diagonal is going to give you 40 (unless I'm visualizing the problem incorrectly). In fact, I believe the diagonal is longer than the naive solution.

[byoung2]

The "obvious" solution is down 11 feet to the floor, 30 feet across the floor, and 1 foot up to the honey, for a total of 42 feet. Instead picture the room "unfolded" into a series of squares and rectangles and laid flat. Then use the pythagorean theorem to find the length of the diagonal that connects the ant and the honey while staying on a surface the whole way. You'll get (6+12+6)^2 + (1+30+1)^2 = c^2 or c = 40.

[mschireson]

It depends which diagonal. I'll explain in more detail later but don't want to completely spoil it :)

Stay tuned!