
Throwing cats out of windows - SandB0x
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3974077/throwing-cats-out-of-windows
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Jun8
This, of course, is a popular interview question, albeit asked with eggs (or
bowling balls) instead of cats. Here's a discussion and a solution:
[http://20bits.com/articles/interview-questions-two-
bowling-b...](http://20bits.com/articles/interview-questions-two-bowling-
balls/). I think for m balls and N floors, the number of steps is O(N^(1/m)).

~~~
cperciva
_I think for m balls and N floors, the number of steps is O(N^(1/m))._

Almost right. It's O(m N^(1/m)).

------
ars
I'm not sure if it's interesting, funny, or sad, that almost all of the
responses were talking about the cats, and how they do better with higher
falls, and almost none talked about the actual question.

~~~
gort
A lot of people don't seem to grasp the concept of assuming certain things for
the sake of exploring a problem.

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Mahh
Problems like these are good for new programmers to think while keeping
abstract thought farther away.

Using cats rather than eggs or dogs paints a story that's fun to imagine. I
could also ask the question by saying: there is an integer to find and any
integer guessed above this removes one chance

I wonder how people might go about constructing their answer if they worry
with respect to the cats lives as compared to the abstract version

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cperciva
My favourite version of this problem involves 4 eggs and a 10^6 floor space
elevator. It's small enough to figure out on a whiteboard, but large enough
that you can't do it without figuring out the pattern.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
The egg will break by the 2nd floor :)

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edw519
_The cat can survive a fall out of a low story window, but will die if thrown
from a high floor._

This is a faulty postulate that cannot be overcome by even the most rigorous
math in the world.

Although controlled studies have not been done (fortunately!), case statistics
assembled by New York City veterinarians suggest that in many cases, falls
from higher floors may actually be _more_ survivable. One theory is that cats
have more time to right themselves before reaching terminal velocity.

<http://www.pets.ca/cats/articles/cat-jumps-off-building/>

~~~
yock
Of course, the problem with the question is that the OP chose cats, as if it's
humerous to think of throwing a cat out of a high window. The problem at its
core is the relationship between height, accelleration, and materials. What is
the necessary height for a given material to reach a sufficient velocity to
cause it to fail upon impacting the ground?

~~~
edw519
I realize that using eggs instead of cats probably would have been more
applicable to this problem. But OP inadvertently demonstrated another problem:
proofs built upon flawed postulates are not only flawed themselves, but a
colossal waste of time. I wonder how many scientists and engineers in the real
world are spending so much time calculating the trees that they've lost sight
of the forest. Probably more than most people think.

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takrupp
Perfect situation to drop "defenestration". Wasted opportunity.

