Comments on: The dime of a lifetime http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2008/04/14/the-dime-of-a-lifetime/ extra dimensions of particle physics Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:22:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jim Shilliday http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2008/04/14/the-dime-of-a-lifetime/comment-page-1/#comment-182 Jim Shilliday Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:01:42 +0000 http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/?p=86#comment-182 Too many years ago, during a high school exam, my (eraserless) pencil fell off my desk and hit the floor. When I looked down, there it was, standing on end, point up of course. Any takers on calculating those odds? If I remember right, the pencil was round, a quarter inch (.6 cm) in diameter, (about) nine inches (23 cm) long. The floor was hard granite and the air was still. The desktop was (about) 30 inches (75 cm) off the floor. A lower bound on the probablility would be interesting. Jim Shilliday Too many years ago, during a high school exam, my (eraserless) pencil fell off my desk and hit the floor. When I looked down, there it was, standing on end, point up of course. Any takers on calculating those odds? If I remember right, the pencil was round, a quarter inch (.6 cm) in diameter, (about) nine inches (23 cm) long. The floor was hard granite and the air was still. The desktop was (about) 30 inches (75 cm) off the floor. A lower bound on the probablility would be interesting.

Jim Shilliday

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