You're just being pedantic.

But why is POINT not defined? It certainly is in my vernacular, and I took 150 credits of STEM classes. I would argue that POINT is more precise than SPOT.

Of course I am being pedantic. That’s how riddles work.

At this point the only thing I “know” regarding the OP’s intention is that he wanted to “poke the hornet’s nest” and watch.

Logic is a process concerned with academic rules and minute details. The setup for the problem and subsequent poll question do not match. The only poster who can clarify the disconnect (syntax error) is the OP. Who has yet to weigh in because he is likely enjoying the show.

ETA: The last time I remember seeing this problem presented with “exact” involved, the story was told relating to stairs/steps and the monk was climbing the Emperor’s Trek.

LOL. Posted this right before one of the busiest weeks I've had in a while and just now getting back to it.

Verdict: The YES, YOU MORON crowd wins.

There's no trickery. Point=Spot, etc. for the purposes of the riddle. Don't read too much into anything...it's a simple and straightforward propositon.

I haven't looked at all the explanations, but this is the one that makes the most sense to me.

Let's say we can film the whole journey from a distant perspective and play it back in real time, with day 1 and day 2 videos superimposed over top of one another. We can see the whole mountain, the path, and the monk on day 1 and 2. We can fast forward and rewind as we wish between 8AM and 8PM. The video starts with two monks, one at the bottom on the first day, and one at the bottom on the second day, both clearly visible in our video, setting out on their journey. The times from both days are perfectly synced and superimposed in a single display over the video, so as we fast forward or rewind, we can know the exact time for both days at once.  At exactly 8 AM, one monk is seen at the bottom and the other is at the top...both are ready to begin.

Pick a time between 8 AM and 8 PM and fast forward to that point...for example, at 10 AM on on the first day, we should see one monk closer to the bottom ascending (from day 1), and one monk would be closer to the top, descending (day 2). They're not in the same spot yet, but, they are both approaching one another's location as we fast forward.

Now, add an hour. Both videos are now at 11:00. The monks are closer still. As we keep adding time, they get closer together. As they approach one another's location, we start adding not hours, but minutes, and they get closer still. When they are very close, we add seconds, then milliseconds...and at some point, they will be at the exact same spot, and the time it took for them to get there will be identical for both days.

At some point, they will be in the exact same spot on the video at the exact same time. It's inevitable.  We don't know WHERE, or WHAT time, but there will be a place and time. And since the times are synced perfectly, that means that they are at the exact spot that they were 24 hours earlier.