Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site wudma.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!mgnetp!we53!busch!wucs!wudma!ph From: ph@wudma.UUCP Newsgroups: net.puzzle Subject: Re: Manhole covers (interview question) Message-ID: <224@wudma.UUCP> Date: Wed, 20-Mar-85 23:55:40 EST Article-I.D.: wudma.224 Posted: Wed Mar 20 23:55:40 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 22-Mar-85 01:26:32 EST Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis, CS Dept. DMA Project Lines: 21 > > Placed inside a square frame, one side of which is the length of the breadth > > of the triangle, a Rouloux shaped drill bit can be made to follow the > > edges of the square. > > Mark Leeper > > Doesn't that produce a "square" with rounded corners? > Doesn't the drill bit have to be exactly triangular to produce an exact square? > Norman Diamond Yes, it does, but using an exactly triangular bit doesn't help; it only allows the bit to jiggle around more. Incidentally, any of you mechanical types out there care to discourse on the problems involved in driving the bit when it doesn't rotate around a fixed axis? I've always wondered about how that was done. --pH /* * "Pardon me for breathing, which I don't do anyway so I don't * know why I bother apologising for it, oh GOD I'm so depressed." */