From shashidhar@protocol.ece.iisc.ernet.in Tue Apr 20 15:57:39 1999
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 21:31:20 +0530 (IST)
From: Shashidhar V 
To: Kaushik Ghose ,
    Diptendu Mitra 




 This is probably fictitious, but it sure is fun :

 Some time ago I received a call from a colleague, who asked if I would
 be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about
 to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while
 the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if
 the system were not set up against the student.
 
 The instructor and the student agreed to an impartial arbiter, and I
 was selected.  I went to my colleague's office and read the
 examination question: "Show how it is possible to determine the
 height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer."
     
 The student had answered: "Take the barometer to the top of the
 building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and
 then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length
 of the rope is the height of the building."
     
 I pointed out that the student really had a strong case for full
 credit since he had really answered the question completely and
 correctly.  On the other hand, if full credit were given, it could
 well contribute to a high grade in his physics course. A high grade
 is supposed to certify competence in physics, but the answer did not
 confirm this.  I suggested that the student have another try at
 answering the question.  I was not surprised that my colleague
 agreed, but I was surprised when the student did.
     
 I gave the student six minutes to answer the question with the
 warning  that the answer should show some knowledge of physics.
 At the end of  five minutes, he had not written anything. I
 asked if he wished to  give up, but he said no. He had many
 answers to this problem; he was just thinking of the best one.
 I excused myself for interrupting him  and asked him to please
 go on. In the next minute, he dashed off his answer which read:
     
 "Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the
  edge  of the roof.  Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a
 stopwatch.  Then, using the formula x=0.5*a*t^2, calculate the
 height of the building."
     
 At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up.  He
 conceded,  and gave the student almost full credit.  In leaving
 my colleague's office, I recalled that the student had said
 that he had other answers  to the problem, so I asked him what
 they were.

  "Well," said the student. "there are many ways of getting the height
  of a tall building with the aid of a barometer. For example, you
  could  take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the
  height of the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the
  length of the shadow of  the building, and by the use of simple
  proportion, determine the height of the building."
    
 "Fine," I said, "and others?"

  "Yes," said the student."  There is a very basic measurement method
  you will like.  In this method, you take the barometer and begin to
  walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length
  of the barometer along the wall.  You then count the number of marks,
  and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units.

     "A very direct method."

   "Of course. If you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the
   barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and
     determine the value of g at the street level and at the top of the
     building.  From the difference between the two values of g, the
    height of the building, in principle, can be calculated."
    
 "On this same tact, you could take the barometer to the top of the
 building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to just above the
 street,  and then swing it as a pendulum.  You could then
 calculate the height  of the building by the period of the
 precession".
 
    "Finally," he concluded, "there are many other ways of solving the
     problem. Probably the best," he said, "is to take the barometer to
    the basement and knock on the superintendent's door.  When the
     superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows:  'Mr.
     Superintendent, here is a fine barometer. If you will tell me the
     height of the building, I will  give you this barometer.'"
     
  At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know
  the conventional answer to this question.  He admitted that he
  did, but  said that he was fed up with high school and college
  instructors trying to teach him how to think.

    Source: geocities.com/vummintala/jokes

               ( geocities.com/vummintala)