The sun., 1909-05-02

t.. =: z!s.|E
This represents the room. walls and
ceiling laid cut iiat iiks line Sides of q
paper box. In the lowest line Of the
three divisions the end walls In which
A and b are situated are hinged to the
floor. In the middle division the end
walls are hinged to the side wall. In
the top division the end we'll A Is hinged
to the side wall below, and the end wall
B Is hinged to the ceiling. This enables
lis 10 get all four routes on one diagram
for the purpose Of comparison.
No. 1 is easily demonstrated to be
the longest Of all; because the wire would
have to traverse feet OF the A wall,
40 feet OF side wall and feet OF B wall,
| climbing a grade OF 0 feet at the same
time. The total distance CT length Of
wire would be IS feet and fraction.
No. 4 ts the most direct. from A to the
floor. straight across the floor and 10
feet up to B. As A Is foot from the
floor and the room is 40 feet long. we
get 81 feet as the length OF wire for this
route.
No. was the favorite. four out Of Ave
solvers covering pages Of paper to prove
that 1t was the hypothenuse of u right
angled triangle, ono side OF which is
r+4047l 40 feet, and the other side 10
I7+l0l II feet Square these and add
them together and you get l,seS. the
Of route No. 8 as 5O.s22 feet or O.oss shorter
| than rOllte No. L.
No. ?, which takes the wire over five
sides Of the room, can also be demon
strated to be the hypothenuse Of right
angled triangle one side Of which Is
| Il 4ot2l "a feet, the other side being
l7+l2+7l % feet. II we add together
2,525, tho square root Of which gives us
the length Of wire between A and B. which
is only 50.2ia fact, or O.oi3 foot shorter
than route No. 8.
The thing was not to calculate it; il
was to soc that there was such route
{ for the wire.
Strange TO cay. eight PRACTICAL eleotri.
clans, Judging by their letterheads and
signatures, picked out route No. 3. and
not single one Of the many whose bust
ness seems to be electrical wiring and
electrical engineering got the correct
answer. A member OF one Of the biggest
firms in New York city sent in two pages
! ~
No. Els the shortest possible in theory
whatever it may be in practice The
man who got his decimals worked out
10 the finest point on the correct answer
and whose solution was the clearest OF
all. Is a coffee merchant on Front street!
One or two of the answers from the
show % the force Of habit IN thought. One
siys. "The only practical way TO run the
wire is down behind the Dashboard al
A. along the cracks in the floor to the
opposite wall, plumb down from B and
carry the wire up behind the dashboard
again, saving two small Offsets"
or that the cracks in 1t ran the long way
Of the room? Where is anything said
about a baseboard?
Another, whose letterhead proclaimf
him 10 be consulting electrical en-
gineer. says: -The catch In your wiring
problem is that you expect a man to &c
10 the ceiling from A and 70 run his wire
over and down to B. But that would take
IS feet of wire. whereas he can get thers
with 81 feet by going along. the floor
Any other way from A TO would Use more
wire than either of these, The problem
is very simple for practical man.
The correct route is from A to the CELL
ing and down again to b,
The following solutions were correct
White, w. W. Dudley. William B. Orr
o. X. H., William j. Wyman. H. c. Hill
Louis T. Young, Miss Walters, H. B. Fer
guson., Henry T. White, Arthur Broad.
bent, w. H. o.. Frank Sutton Jr. Zenith,
W. NJ. Piatt, A: D. Brooks, B. II. Brevoort
T. W. Henry and &. F. Barnett
THINK IT OVER.
Here is a rather neat little brain racker
which was given to the naval cadets at
Annapolis many years ago. 1t is not
intended to be figured out with pencil and
paper. but is an exercise in thinking. In
fact II is q sort Of test tube TO run your
brains through in order 70 see il they are
muddy or If they are working logically;
and wanted TO know how fast 1t was 60
ing, but could not see any mile posts at
the side OF the track. The conductor.
who was bit Of wag. suggested that he
should count the telegraph boles, and then
be waited for the traveller to bite. OF
course he bit. and innooentiy asked how
conductor told him that they we're passing
as many poles every minute and forty
seconds as the train was going miles per
hour.
It is probably just as we'll to aoknowl-
edge It now as later especially as 90 many
|
No. is-unluoky number-was the first
OF the second series which will count
toward the next roll Of honor. That
problem stumped some Of the best in the
business, and comments upon 1t are still
coming In. .
One Of the cracks who has never missed
q problem before said: Il have spent
seven or eight hours, fifteen or twenty
minutes at q time, on No, la. but without
success. Were the problem anywhere
but In The SUN ! should give 1t up as
| impossible. I will wager that you will
have several more give us something
hard fellows in your bag this time
Another crack, who sent q special deliv-
ery letter 70 as TO get within the time
limit, remarked; The simplicity OF No.
is makes one smile when one has solved
II. but should hate TO confess the hours
apeut on il before the light dawned.
A we'll known doctor in this city ssys
he could think Of nothing else for q week
until he finally got 1t. A Brooklyn man
wrote that his hair was several shades
rrayer, and q correspondent in Florida
said that he found No. Is very perplex-
ing, chiefly because he spent 80 much
time looking for the wrong thing,
No. II, printed two weeks ago is an
other example OF the methods OF novice
In problem composition. The principal
idea OF II il borrowed from an older and
very dificult. problem. and the composer
Of No, II. W. T. Newman OF Pough.
keepsie, evidently intended that The
came difficulty should arise in getting