Isn't it obvious?

Thread Starter

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,070
One exceptionally pleasant day a mathematician, a physicist and a biologist decided to lunch at a nearby sidewalk café. As they sat eating, they observed the people coming and going around them. They watched as across the street one person, then another entered a building. A few minutes later, the two original people left in the company of a third.

"Did you see that?" said the biologist, "They reproduced!."
"Don't be silly.", said the physicist, "There was clearly a measurement error."
"You are both very funny.", said the mathematician, "It's obvious that if exactly one more person enters that building it will be empty."
 

bogosort

Joined Sep 24, 2011
696
If you assume the initial contends of the building is zero, two people enter and three people leave, the number of people in the building is now -1. This is only possible in the abstract world of Mathematics.
Ah, thank you for the explanation. I'm disappointed with the joke as it never occurred to me to assume that the building was initially empty.
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
If you assume the initial contends of the building is zero, two people enter and three people leave, the number of people in the building is now -1. This is only possible in the abstract world of Mathematics.
I thought it was zero base numbering, therefor we have 2 people leave in the company of a third. Still leaving -1, third person forgot his keys went back in as the door locks behind him, now zero again, poor bugger he has to wait for someone to open the door again :(

kv:)
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
I thought it was zero base numbering, therefor we have 2 people leave in the company of a third. Still leaving -1, third person forgot his keys went back in as the door locks behind him, now zero again, poor bugger he has to wait for someone to open the door again :(

kv:)
Which begs the question... how were the aforementioned building's stories numbered? ... was the floor immediately above ground assigned the number one, or number two?
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,159
Which begs the question... how were the aforementioned building's stories numbered? ... was the floor immediately above ground assigned the number one, or number two?
At one particular hotel in Las Vegas the floor above the Lobby is #14. It is true that the lobby has a high ceiling.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,159
You're right it may have been intentional in a gambling mecca as a way to sidestep the unluckiest of numbers. It is curious that it is on the wheel (roulette) however,
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
If memory serves me right, there are a few buildings in the world that deliberately skip the 13th floor.

Sometimes there's a gap in the structure itself, and sometimes said number is conspicuously absent with no apparent architectural cause.
 
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