XPost: sci.physics   
   From: physfitfreak@gmail.com   
      
   On 12/24/25 7:30 AM, Farley Flud wrote:   
   > Any math heads out there?   
   >   
   >   
   >   
      
      
   This one befits a math head better:   
      
   An Iranian Ayatollah invites a penniless Iranian scientist to give him a   
   visit. When the scientist visits him, he goes like:   
      
   Ayatollah: We gave this question to every engineer we could and none of   
   them could answer it. Fat, thin, short, tall, rich, or super rich,   
   didn't matter. None of those donkeys could answer it. Then someone said   
   why not asking a scientist, so now you're here.   
      
   Scientist: What is the question?   
      
   Ayatollah: I have gathered fund to distribute a large number of spies   
   throughout occupied Palestine (Israel.) All of them are non-Iranian, and   
   have different ethnicity. We have divided up the entire land into as   
   many zones as we plan to assign spies to. The spies will only contact   
   each other if they're stationed in neighboring zones. But we do not want   
   any spy have a neighboring spy of the same ethnicity.   
      
   Scientist: !.. Why not?   
      
   Ayatollah: Because if of the same ethnicity, their stupid wives will be   
   talking each other's brains on the phone all day and Mossad can easily   
   get suspicious of the two households.   
      
   Scientist: Oh!..   
      
   Ayatollah: So here's the problem we have. We prefer to use as few   
   different ethnicity among the spies as possible. So what is the minimum   
   number of different ethnicity we can limit our process to, to distribute   
   them in a way to prevent any neighboring spies of same ethnicity?   
      
   And he continues:   
      
   Ayatollah: So are we done here?   
      
   Scientist: Of course not. What's in it for me? I'm not one of your 5   
   million Basij slave to do it free for you.   
      
   Ayatollah: Hmm.. how about ... much in advance and another ... much   
   after you come up with the answer?   
      
   The scientist takes out his smartphone and uses the astronomical number   
   to convert the amount into U.S. dollar, and then:   
      
   Scientist: Holy fucking shit.. I'm in it!   
      
   So he gets the first payment and goes home, works on the problem for a   
   day, and goes back and gives the answer to the Ayatollah and gets the   
   final payment.   
      
   What was his answer?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)