Assume an arbitrarily high coefficient of friction between all surfaces. Can you stack the blocks on the table such that at least one block is wholly below the top of the table?
I think I have an answer to this, but I've only worked it through in my head, so there's a good chance I'm wrong!
I think it's also possible for other shapes, all the way up to square blocks. But you need to build a bunch of nested "clamp" arrangements, instead of just one.
Yes but in practice that means using glue, at which point you might as well glue everything together into a single piece.
I love this kind of writing. It feels like the author is excited to bring me along on a journey — not to show off how smart they are. In this way it reminds me of Turing's original paper that introduced his "computing machine". It presents a fantastically deep topic in a way that is not just remarkably accessible but also conversational and _friendly_.
I wonder why so little modern academic writing is like this. Maybe people are afraid it won't seem adequately professional unless their writing is sterile?
The problem can be perpetuated when e.g. a lecturer sets recommended reading to students. From the lecturer's perspective the selected reading material has clear explanations (because the lecturer understands the subject well), but the students do not feel the same way.
As you say, this takes effort to overcome, both on the author's side and from anyone trying to curate resources - including what we choose to upvote on HN!
Because essentially the table edge is a fulcrum, as is each block, and the leverage is relative to the center of mass.
OgsyedIE•4h ago
https://chris-lamb.co.uk/posts/optimal-solution-for-the-bloc...
ndsipa_pomu•2h ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA0qGJMZ7vA
JdeBP•1h ago