or, we consume the power of a 100W incandescent lamp
conceptual blockbusters?
One morning, exactly at sunrise, a Buddhist monk began to climb a tall mountain. A narrow path, no more than a foot or two wide, spiralled around the mountain to a glittering temple at the summit. The monk ascended at varying rates of speed, stopping many times along the way to rest and eat dried fruit he carried with him. He reached the temple shortly before sunset. After several days of fasting and meditation he began his journey back along the same path, starting at sunrise and again walking at variable speeds with many pauses along the way. His average descending speed was, of course, greater than his average climbing speed. Prove that there is a spot along the path that the monk will occupy on both trips at precisely the same time of day.
Assume that a steel pipe is imbedded in the concrete floor of a bare room. The inside diametre is 0.6” larger than the diametre of a ping‐pong ball (1.50”) that is resting gently at the bottom of the pipe. You are one of a group of six people in the room, along with the following objects:
100’ of clotheslinea carpenter’s hammera chisela box of Wheatiesa filea wire coat hangera monkey wrencha light bulb
List as many ways as you can think of (in five minutes) to get the ball out of the pipe without damaging the ball, tube, or floor.
bibliography
Weinstein, L. and Adam, J.A. Guesstimation: Solving the World’s Problems on the Back of a CocktainNapkin, Princeton University Press, 2008James L. Adams. Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, 3rd ed., Basic Books, 2001