You come into your professor's office to ask some
questions shortly before 9:00 a.m. on Friday.
You find him lying on
the floor of his office in a pool of chalk dust, dead.
You quickly
call the police and their investigators take several measurements over
the next hour, including:
1) the body temperature at 9:00 a.m. - 80 degrees.
2) the body temperature at 10:00 a.m. - 78 degrees
3) room temperature - 70 degrees (constant)
You realize that the police believe you to be a prime suspect,
so you need an alibi. You know that you were studying with friends until 3:00 a. m.,
but you aren't sure if that is enough information. You need to know
the time of death!
Assuming that the difference between body temperature and room
temperature changes at a rate proportional to that difference, and that the normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees, how
good is your alibi?