• LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Reminded me of this math joke:

    A physicist, engineer, and mathematician are asked by a local farmer to build the smallest fence they possibly can to hold in all of his sheep.

    The physicist builds a big fence and slowly reduces the size until he can’t reduce the fence any longer.

    The engineer measures each sheep, stacks them in a specific way, and then builds a fence around them.

    The mathematician builds a small fence around himself, then defines himself to be outside the fence.

    • Hupf@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      Yes, whoosh and all, but Earth’s surface is homeomorphous to a sphere.

      What if I built a very non trivial fence in excess of 40000 km in length - would you laugh at me then for defining which side is supposed to be outside?