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And yet if they ask you for an answer to a quirky question like "why are manhole covers round?", they expect a clever answer like "they can't fall in", rather t
by Nition 5y ago
And yet if they ask you for an answer to a quirky question like "why are manhole covers round?", they expect a clever answer like "they can't fall in", rather than a pedestrian answer like "well, probably they just started making them that shape for some simple production reason, and then everyone else just kinda of did the same thing because it worked."
- whatshisface 5y agoManhole covers are round because they minimize the circumference per area that must be cut to make the cover fall in.
- vishnugupta 5y agoObligatory https://sellsbrothers.com/12395 https://sellsbrothers.com/12395
- bryanrasmussen 5y agoOk but consider - is there any department at Microsoft other than marketing that Richard Feynman would have been suited for?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- gcheong 5y agoI don’t know but I shudder at the thought of what state the world would have to be in for Feynman to be interviewing at Microsoft or any FAANG company for that matter.
- neilv 5y agoFeynman made significant contributions to supercomputing. https://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine/ https://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machin... I'm guessing Feynman would've had a much better chance getting hired at old Microsoft, than through the current FAANG/wannabe interview process.
- HWR_14 5y agoRichard Feynman oversaw the IBM computer's use and programming used in the Manhattan Project. Microsoft also has an R&D department that would probably just give him a budget and a team of assistants to see what he came up with.
- achow 5y agoMost probably, because manhole covers were/are made using cast iron, which were sand casted. Mold for sand casting is easily done in lathe (turning a wood on lathe for precise shape is faster and more accurate than sawing). So as one of the parent comment mentions - it is round because of production reasons.
- PinballWizard 5y agoMy take is because the manhole is round.
- achow 5y agoThe mouth of the 'hole' could be easily square, actually making a square shape is perhaps easier - since laying concrete is easier in straight lines. So, most probably the shape of the cast iron cover (circular), drove the shape of mouth of the hole.
- eecc 5y agoMy guess is it’s also a matter of practical usage: they’re made of heavy iron and a round one will fall in place whatever orientation it’s thrown over the cover, while a different shape needs to be carefully oriented. I suspect this also means less broken fingers.
- achow 5y agoBut round one is easier to steal.. just roll them off. Whereas a square or any such shape, would be very inconvenient to move. [Edit in response to a question] Some people have attempted to steal manhole covers in order to sell them for scrap metal. China Daily notes that there has also been a problem with taxi drivers removing manhole covers to "steal water and clean their vehicles". https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-52400235 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-52400235
- adrianN 5y agoWhy would someone steal a manhole cover?
- paganel 5y agoIn my area there are lots of square manhole covers. I have it on my personal to-do list to photograph almost all the older manhole covers from my city and geo-locate them at some point, I think it could be a good indicator of how my city grew and evolved ~100 years ago.
- bikson 5y agoI had same question, i was pissed because that was another stiupid question. My answer was: Because its easier for ninja turtles to jump on.
- GistNoesis 5y agoIt's just an invitation to discuss curves of constant width, like the Reuleaux triangle, that has indeed been made into a man-hole cover.
- cedilla 5y agoLots of man-hole covers are rectangular though. Turns out it isn't very important at all to have manhole covers that don't fall in. They are quite heavy and don't roll around on their own, so having them fall somewhere really is of minor concern.
- GistNoesis 5y agoYeah, but they don't sound as nice when you hit them with the hammer (even when you make them of width/length golden ratio so that they look nice). The manhole cover question, is more of a check to test whether the candidate belongs to the math-circle people where this is well known. Even if they don't it's then an opportunity to test if the candidate can see the question behind the question. With these sort of open-question in an interview context you have to roll with it, otherwise it's seen as an unwillingness to play (sphericon) ball.
- gowld 5y agoHand-Rolling is a good reason to make them round.
- ivanche 5y agoAh the famous Reuleaux triangle, something which 99% of software developers around the world deal with every day!
- emptyfile 5y agoWhat? Manhole covers aren't round. Silly americans. http://lh4.ggpht.com/_LWPSf1_ugFI/TA4tx-22QRI/AAAAAAAAFx0/T1I1KOlkBfM/s800/Kanal-Gajic.jpg http://lh4.ggpht.com/_LWPSf1_ugFI/TA4tx-22QRI/AAAAAAAAFx0/T1...
- tssva 5y agoThey aren't even all round in the US. Where I live there is a high and rapidly growing number of data centers. In fact there is currently another large data center campus being built for the company famous for asking this question. Among other things this means installation of fiber optic cabling along the roads leading to the data centers. This in turn means the installation of a large number of manholes to service the cables. All the covers for these manholes are rectangular.
- signal11 5y agoManhole covers come in a variety of shapes. A non-ironic "why are manhole covers round" question speaks more to lack of life and/or travel experience than anything else. There are triangular[1] and even more exotic-shaped[2] covers. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/g826ve/my_city_uses_triangle_manhole_covers/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/g826ve/m... [2] https://manhole.co.il/doSearch.asp?tp=114 https://manhole.co.il/doSearch.asp?tp=114
- darkwater 5y ago> [2] https://manhole.co.il/doSearch.asp?tp=114 https://manhole.co.il/doSearch.asp?tp=114 Holy crap, I never thought a website dedicated to manholes pictures was a thing. I love the human species :)
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Nition 5y agoAnd look at that, it's got a hinge on it, so it can't fall in. And it can't be stolen or misplaced.
- peoplefromibiza 5y ago> "why are manhole covers round?" asked that question I would have answered: "that's a trick question! they are not round!" http://www.theromanpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/cropped-75122419_562090251262305_549820431670968320_n-1000x563.jpg http://www.theromanpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/cropp...
- RandallBrown 5y agoA bad interviewer might expect a certain answer but a good interviewer will use it as an opportunity to examine the interviewee's critical thinking skills. Are there any other reasons the cover would be round? It gives you an insight into their thought process as they come up with more ideas and explanations.