Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com>

From what I can tell, these tests are already doing what they are intended to do: determine who can function in our society.

In that case, the "Math A Regents exam" is not a mathematics test, so your remark is misdirected. This is a list about mathematics, not cultural integration tests. Not that your departure from the topic is comparable to the reek of gas about "flaming liberals" we got from the flaming ... whatever ... earlier today. That one belongs on a bus--they take any kind of rant you like there. Meanwhile, I'm intrigued by the straw problem. So far, the best I've done is to express the length as sqrt(tt+uu+vv) where (t,u,v) satisfy equations (x-t)^2 (tt+uu+vv) = 4 r^2 (uu+vv) (y-u)^2 (tt+uu+vv) = 4 r^2 (tt+vv) (z-v)^2 (tt+uu+vv) = 4 r^2 (tt+uu) in the box dimensions (x,y,z) and the straw radius r. Adding them up, I'm startled (possibly not for the first time) that any way you lean a disc of radius r on the floor against two walls, the center will be sqrt(2)r from the corner. Is there an easy geometrical proof? But I'm pretty much flummoxed about solving the whole system. Maybe I should have gone to high school in New York. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil