Why Are Manhole Covers Round? (on Microsoft brainteaser job interviews)

Re:Why Are Manhole Covers Round? (on Microsoft brainteaser j... by diego on Monday April 14, 2008 @10:47AM (#163152)

My guess would be that (many, most) manhole covers are round because it is the obvious shape for most lids. There are so many poorly designed urban objects that I tend to believe that the feature of not falling into the hole was a lucky accident.

Think of stop signs, for example. It would be really easy to have a different shape/color for four-way stops, but at least in the US all they do is add "four way" to the sign in an inconsistent way.

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Re:Why Are Manhole Covers Round? (on Microsoft brainteaser j... by LogicHoleFlaw on Monday April 14, 2008 @12:05PM (#163224)

I think having multiple shapes for stop signs would be a terrible idea. The red octagon is an international standard. Messing with it is just asking for trouble. The "4-way" signs are just an aid to drivers, to indicate what behavior they can expect from other drivers. They're not required, and no replacement for plain old good judgment.

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