Re: let's outgrow puzzles

[Joel Rauber <Joel_Rauber@SDSTATE.EDU>]

Leigh,
Do you think that questions like the one you mention below is silly; or is
it a useful example that can be used to begin to develope in students an
appreciation and ability with symmetry arguements?

Joel
> I think Sarma's quote from Ziman might ring truer with astronomers
> than with biologists. Astronomers can't do experiments to test
> hypotheses. I think it is fair to say that in atronomy the making
> of hypotheses is so unimportant that little attention is given to
> it. Almost all hypotheses are implicit.
>
> I thought John Denker's subject line (above) related to the silly
> practice of putting puzzles on exams, something I detest, but from
> which I profitted as a student. The diagonal resistance of a cube
> of one ohm resistors is the example that comes to mind.
>
> Leigh