October 31, 2023
August 01, 2018
There’s a classic test of creative thinking ability. The subject is asked to list as many uses as they can think of for a brick.
Paper weight, weapon, door stop, delivery system for a message tied to it, etc.
The other classic of this sort is to ask for all the ways to use a barometer to determine the height of a building.
My two favorites:
1. Drop the barometer from the top of the building, time its fall, and calculate in terms of the acceleration of gravity.
2. Go to the building superintendent and say, “I will give you this lovely barometer if you will tell me the height of this building.”
September 24, 2018
There’s a classic test of creative thinking ability. The subject is asked to list as many uses as they can think of for a brick.
Paper weight, weapon, door stop, delivery system for a message tied to it, etc.
The other classic of this sort is to ask for all the ways to use a barometer to determine the height of a building.
My two favorites:
1. Drop the barometer from the top of the building, time its fall, and calculate in terms of the acceleration of gravity.
2. Go to the building superintendent and say, “I will give you this lovely barometer if you will tell me the height of this building.”