Re:Why Are Manhole Covers Round? (on Microsoft brainteaser j...
by TrevorJ on Monday April 14, 2008 @04:22PM
(#163463)
Actually, no, a square cover would have to have a much wider flange in order to ensure that it could not fall in . (rotated 45 degrees in relation to the whole and tipped up, a square cover would fall in)
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Re:Why Are Manhole Covers Round? (on Microsoft brainteaser j...
by hobbs on Monday April 14, 2008 @04:51PM
(#163505)
Actually, yes, that's exactly what I was getting at. You'd have to make the square cover sqrt(2) times wider than the hole, but you could still prevent it from ever falling in. (Granted, it's not a very efficient solution, though.)