A boy goes and buys a one-piece fishing pole that is 6' 3" long. As he goes to get on the bus, the bus driver tells him that he can't take anything on the bus longer than 6'.

The boy goes back to town, buys one more thing, and the bus driver allows him on the bus.

He did not damage the fishing pole in any way.

What did he buy, and what did he do with it?

The posted solution is pretty weak. There's no real reason to think it's only a dimensional issue. Length, width, and height are all relative; simply turning the fishing rod would've done in the first place. He didn't need a diagonal box. I mean, if it can't be 6' long, I'm assuming there's some sort of 'window.' If not, you can simply turn the thing and put it in. Why buy a box at all? Just rotate it 90 degrees and boom, it's a half inch long. It can be 300 feet long at that point, but then length is the width and it doesn't matter.

I mean, why would a box even matter? I know problems listed in "Tricks" are generally of this variety, but there are more interesting tricks that make much more sense.

For example, the problem never said he took the fishing pole with him. Maybe he bought postage and mailed it. Maybe he bought a shorter fishing pole in exchange. Maybe he just came back and said "Hey, this isn't 6' long."

Posted by Eric on 2005-07-26 20:12:27