I, the somewhat mighty and moderately powerful Zeus decided to improve on that Other Guy's work by making the globe of the Earth a perfect sphere. I then hired a sub-contractor named Moses to part the resultant global ocean at the equator to form two great seas, leaving dry land between. I saw then an image of Saturn from the Cassini probe and thought it would be jolly nice to have a band about the Earth. So, I put a band of silver upon the surface of the Earth, at the equator, Moses having given me plenty of room to work. I saw the pics of Saturn again and realised that its rings were of larger diameter than the planet. So, I increased the length of my band by 3 inches. Now the band hovers above the surface of the planet by some amount. I wish to measure its altitude - but which instrument would best suit my needs?

a> an interferometer
b> a micrometer
c> a ruler
d> an altimeter

:confused: :confused: :confused:

Uh wild guess... Altimeter?

A ruler - or a micrometer if you wanted to be accurate? :p

Hehe the only reason I guessed it is cause I know I am always giving the pilots the Altimeter so they can monitor their altitude... so I guess its not too wild of a guess... hehe

(I am an Air Traffic Controller)

A micrometer is used for thickness -- lets go with the simple good old ruler.

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

a ruler - or a micrometer if you wanted to be accurate? :p

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Zeus says there should be a mathematical explanation for your answer, should he acquire more length of silver band to amend to the current one.

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Originally Posted by s2tp

hehe the only reason I guessed it is cause I know I am always giving the pilots the Altimeter so they can monitor their altitude...so I guess its not too wild of a guess...hehe

(I am an Air Traffic Controller)

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The key is to determine what distance is involved and to select the appropriate instrument -

Interferometer - millionths of inch
(inside) micrometer - thousandths of an inch
Ruler - inches to ~ hundredths of an inch
Altimeter - feet

Looked up my answer and got some definitions;

Altimeter: An instrument used to measure the height above sea level. An instrument that indicates the altitude of an object above a fixed level. Pressure altimeters use an aneroid barometer with a scale graduated in altitude instead of pressure.

Interferometer:An instrument that employs the interference of light waves to measure the wavefront.

Micrometer: a metric unit of linear measurement equivalent to one-thousandth of a millimeter or one-millionth of a meter, it is the common dimension used to measure the length of glochidia and juvenile mussels

Ruler:A ruler is an instrument used in geometry to measure short/medium distances and/or to rule straight lines.


OK so I stand by my original answer... altimeter :) I actually learned stuff by searching all that.. yay me, today is a success... haha

Aaah OK, got it, thanks Fianchetto

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Originally Posted by s2tp

aaah ok, got it, thanks Fianchetto

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EXCELLENT! Its an arithmatic problem, not a logic puzzle!

Haha well arithmetic has always been a struggle for me... that word just makes the hair on my neck stand up... haha OK I also struggle with chronic exaggeration.. :p

I, the somewhat mighty and moderately powerful Zeus, being to some degree superior to you mere mortals, have done the math (better than you, of course) and being fairly generous, deliver unto you this Hint: No matter how big the original band, increasing the cirumference by 3" will ALWAYS result in the SAME change to the radius.

Since you mortals are obviously not up to the challenge, I, the somewhat mighty and moderately powerful Zeus, have chosen to perhaps reveal the answer and its rationale to you in a day or two.. IF , that is, I deem you worthy to know the secrets of the gods. Bwahahahhahahahh! <<<add background llightning and thunder cracks for effect HERE>>>

3 / 2pi = 0.5 inches ish. That's how I got my answer before...

I know I did this some years ago with a physics teacher - and the answer was surprising - but now I find it utterly obvious

Maybe science has broken me in

Edit - okay I suppose it is surprising that no matter the diameter of the ball, the same increase of radius will happen, but I still find that obvious. I am a slave to science :(

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

3 / 2pi = 0.5 inches ish. that's how i got my answer before...

I know I did this some years ago with a physics teacher - and the answer was suprising - but now I find it utterly obvious

Maybe science has broken me in

Edit - okay I suppose it is suprising that no matter the diameter of the ball, the same increase of radius will happen, but I still find that obvious. I am a slave to science :(

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I find the distance of ~.48" obvious, but the fact that it doesn't matter the size of the circle quite surprising...

I Don't think that your question underlines this, it would have been better to ask how the distance from the surface on a tennis ball compares to the distance from the surface of the earth, upon adding 3inches to the circumference - This would underline that the answer is the same - and I'm sure more people would get it wrong by not running the numbers or thinking about it :)

The answer is certainly not immediately intuitive :)

It would be great to have that ring spinning and to use it for transport though ;D

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

I Don't think that your question underlines this, it would have been better to ask how the distance from the surface on a tennis ball compares to the distance from the surface of the earth, upon adding 3inches to the circumference - This would underline that the answer is the same - and I'm sure more people would get it wrong by not running the numbers or thinking about it :)

The answer is certainly not immediately intuitive :)

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Thanks for the critique - I suppose that Zeus could have used a model for himself and allowed his admirers to form the conclusion. :)

Just a quick question - why Zeus? :p

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

Just a quick question - why Zeus? :p

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1> How else better to "compete" with the "Other Guy" and make the joke work?

2> To avoid the risk of offense to fundamentalist Christians with what might be considered blasphemy (and thus possibly shifting the focus of the question from mathematics to religion).

Hah, fair enough, It just seems to me that Greek gods were fairly rubbish. Zeus just throws lightning around all day.

Maybe the titans would have been better for the question, since they created the universe in the Greek mythos.

Aaannyways, I do agree with avoiding the religious slant.