Re: Information & Power /Alexandria library

Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Wed, 05 May 1999 20:54:35 -0700

> > Can you calculate all the included angles without your computer?
> > Can you calculate them *with* your computer?
> > Evidently the Greeks knew how to do these stone arches.
>
> I can state for a fact that this knowledge is not lost, only out of use due to its expense. In the late 1800's, John Rockefeller owned most of what is now Acadia National Park, on Mount Desert... ...These are some of the most beautiful stone arch bridges you can find anywhere...Mike Lorrey

Wow thanks Mike! I didnt know of these. I assume the proletariate see these
bridges today as they are in a national park? Perhaps I shall vacation there
this year. {8^D

p.s. It is still a cool challenge to try to calculate the required included angles
on the arch stones. Ive been toying with this on and off for weeks and havent
yet found the closed form solution. I could do it numerically on the computer,
but that would be cheating. How about one of you smart guys figure it out. {8-] spikus joneese