QED

Op de economieblog Freakonomics vroeg blogger Fred Shapiro zijn lezers om wiskundige citaten in te sturen. Voor mij zat er niet veel nieuws tussen, want als je al bijna twee jaar lang wekelijks een citaat over wiskunde moet opzoeken heb je de bekendste al wel gehad… Eén van de ingezonden citaten was echter een leuk grapje dat ik nog niet kende:

An engineer, a physicist and a mathematician are all contracted by a rancher to build the most efficient fence in which to house his stable of cattle.

The engineer builds a large round fence around the property claiming that is the most practical and efficient design.

The physicist scoffs at the engineer and starts drawing up plans for a fence that would circle the earth thus improving on the efficiency of the engineers design, however drastically reducing the practically of it.

The mathematician walks over, grabs four small segments of fence that he builds into a square around himself and says, “I declare myself to be on the outside!”