Big Bob owns an asphalt company, and has been asked to pave a Go Kart track. The track is a simple annulus, that is, the space between two concentric circles. Big Bob sends his son, Medium Bob, to take the necessary measurements.
When Medium Bob gets back from the Go Kart track, Big Bob asks for the inner and outer radius measurements. But Medium Bob says, "There was a fence around the inner track, and a mean dog in there, so I didn't bother trying to measure the radius. But I did ride around the track a few times.
"What?" says Big Bob, almost choking on his anger. "I sent you to do some measurements, not have a good time! Where's Little Bob, I'll have to have him take care of this."
"Well, I did measure what I could," says Medium Bob.
"Oh really?" says Big Bob, "and what did you measure?"
"The steering wheel on my Go Kart was broken, so I could only go in a straight line until I hit a fence. Then I'd have to get out of the Kart, aim it in a new direction, and take another short straight ride. And the longest ride I ever took was exactly 200 feet. And I'm pretty sure that's the best anyone could do."
"Well, thanks for wasting my time!" says Big Bob. "Can you go out there and check it out, Little Bob?"
"No need," says Little Bob, "I know how much asphalt we are going to need."
Did Little Bob really know?
I give up, show me the solution.
Take me back to the main puzzle page.