I have a pencil that always rolls around on a slanted surface. One end is wider and heavier than the other. So whenever it rolls, it goes in a wide circle. Otherwise, the pencil is featureless, only becoming steadily wider towards one end.

The difference between the two diameters on the two ends is exactly 144 times smaller than the length of the pencil. If the pencil is pointing uphill on a slanted surface, how many times will it spin until it points downhill?

(In reply to re(3): Trying to be even more exact by fwaff)

And NASA sent a rocket to Mars a few years back, where one component used metric units while another expected English units, and the capsule crashed.

Posted by Charlie on 2004-02-24 10:53:25