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« on: November 14, 2014, 03:52:21 am »
(Oooh, engineer jokes!)
To determine which department was the best at problem-solving, a university organized a contest: three volunteer professors (physics, computer science, and mathematics) were locked in separate classrooms for a week. They were supplied with canned food, but not a can opener, and had to figure out a way to survive until the end of the week.
When the physicist's room was unlocked, he stepped out alive and well. The whiteboard in his classroom had a few scribbled equations, and each can had been punctured in a precise manner to extract the food inside.
When the programmer's room was unlocked, he stepped out looking tired, but satisfied. He had dismantled a chair from the classroom and used it as a club to smash open the cans of food. He made a huge mess, but survived.
When the mathematician's room was unlocked, he was found dead inside. None of the canned food had been touched. He had written equations all over the whiteboard, and then on some of the walls too. In a corner, his last message read: "I have proof that a solution exists. Now, I just need to find it."
