VS joke
This is really funny! Gregory told me this joke during Chinese tutorial (in English). Babi (or Dadi) suspects that it's a VS joke, cuz only VS people would crack jokes like this.
---
There was a teacher that posed this question to one of her students:
How do you measure the height of a tall building using only a barometer?
(At this point, Greg poses the same question to me. I think for a while and I answer "Using the barometer, measure the atmospheric pressure at the base of the building and the top of the building. Then, with the density of air in hand, use
delta P = (delta h)(rheo)(g)
to evaluate delta h, the height of the building."
Spoken like a true Singaporean Physics student brainwashed by 11 years worth of methodic procedual thinking. I later double checked this to be technically correct, only that the building has to be really tall for increased accuracy.)
Back to the story:
So the student thinks about this for a while and concludes:
"1. At the top of the building, tie the barometer to a rope or string of infinite length. Lower it over the edge of the building so that the barometer touches the ground floor. Height of the building is the length of the rope plus the height of the barometer."
So the teacher immediately says that he is wrong and gives the student another chance. The student thinks for a longer while and the teacher inquires why he's taking so long. He says "I've thoought of a few more methods, but none of them are as good as the first one." So the teacher asks to hear them, and he says:
"2. At the top of the building, drop the barometer off the edge and record the time it takes to hit the floor. Then derive the height using the formula
s = ut + 1/2at^2
3. At the central stairwell of the building, prop the barometer against the edge of the wall and make a mark on the wall at the top of the barometer. Bring the barometer up so that the base touches the previous mark and make a new mark at the top. Repeat until you get to the roof and multiply the number of marks by the height of the barometer to obtain the building height.
4. Measure the height of the barometer, h, and the length of its shadow, l. Measure the length of the building's shadow and multiply that by the ratio h/l to get the building height.
5. (the most creative one) Find the building janitor and tell him "If you tell me the height of this building, I'll give you this barometer."
---
I was laughing my ass off. This is going to be a Singapore school urban ledend along with the JC lightbulbs joke.
---
There was a teacher that posed this question to one of her students:
How do you measure the height of a tall building using only a barometer?
(At this point, Greg poses the same question to me. I think for a while and I answer "Using the barometer, measure the atmospheric pressure at the base of the building and the top of the building. Then, with the density of air in hand, use
delta P = (delta h)(rheo)(g)
to evaluate delta h, the height of the building."
Spoken like a true Singaporean Physics student brainwashed by 11 years worth of methodic procedual thinking. I later double checked this to be technically correct, only that the building has to be really tall for increased accuracy.)
Back to the story:
So the student thinks about this for a while and concludes:
"1. At the top of the building, tie the barometer to a rope or string of infinite length. Lower it over the edge of the building so that the barometer touches the ground floor. Height of the building is the length of the rope plus the height of the barometer."
So the teacher immediately says that he is wrong and gives the student another chance. The student thinks for a longer while and the teacher inquires why he's taking so long. He says "I've thoought of a few more methods, but none of them are as good as the first one." So the teacher asks to hear them, and he says:
"2. At the top of the building, drop the barometer off the edge and record the time it takes to hit the floor. Then derive the height using the formula
s = ut + 1/2at^2
3. At the central stairwell of the building, prop the barometer against the edge of the wall and make a mark on the wall at the top of the barometer. Bring the barometer up so that the base touches the previous mark and make a new mark at the top. Repeat until you get to the roof and multiply the number of marks by the height of the barometer to obtain the building height.
4. Measure the height of the barometer, h, and the length of its shadow, l. Measure the length of the building's shadow and multiply that by the ratio h/l to get the building height.
5. (the most creative one) Find the building janitor and tell him "If you tell me the height of this building, I'll give you this barometer."
---
I was laughing my ass off. This is going to be a Singapore school urban ledend along with the JC lightbulbs joke.
posted by Russell Chander at 9:57 PM
<< Home