[malandrew]

Golf balls on a bus are a contrived example.

I understand the value of sphere packing (but IMHO ellipsoid packing is more interesting), but why not just ask the orange packing question instead of golf balls on a bus?

A question about orange packing in an orange factory simply does not elicit the reaction of "let's see if this monkey can dance" which one would have if asked about golf balls on a bus.

An intentionally absurd question, even if it is an abstraction of a non-absurd question, does not make that question any less absurd. If you want to abstract, abstract, but do not abstract then unproductively obfuscate, because when you do, you've taken a perfectly legitimate problem and made a trick question out of it.

I don't know why, but I feel like this Calvin and Hobbes comic strip feels appropriate: http://imgur.com/gallery/P6bwL

[hedgie]

i agree completely.