In a real physical situation, how does "nature" choose among all these
PHYSICALLY VALID solutions? . . . Blah, Blah, Blah . . .
I thought this was more or less settled. Nature is a lot more complex with
other constraints. But we oversimplified the situation. So if you know the
coefficient of elasticity of the strings and the lengths you can presumably
calculate a realistic answer. Of course springs are easier to calculate and
get an answer you might see in the laboratory, while strings have such a
high coefficient that it is almost impossible to predict the actual results.
But one thing that might be good for students to look at would be a ranking
of the forces under various conditions. This problem is actually a good
example of a "rich context problem" where you ask students to calculate what
they can.