A physicist, a mathematician, and an engineer were attending a conference. That night, they were sleeping on different floors of the same hotel.
The Engineer's Approach
The engineer wakes up to see his room is on fire. He quickly activates all the emergency fire hydrant systems in his room, completely putting out the fire but drenching the room in the process. He gets back to bed and uncomfortably goes to sleep.
The Physicist's Solution
The physicist wakes up to see her room is on fire. She takes a pitcher, walks to the bathroom, and carefully estimates how much water is needed to put out the fire. She extinguishes the fire with precisely the right amount of water, gets back to bed, and goes to sleep.
The Mathematician's Proof
The mathematician wakes up to see his room is on fire. He takes out a pencil and notepad, walks to his desk, and starts madly scribbling. The fire grows bigger and bigger as he scribbles faster and faster. Finally, he writes "QED" and slams his notepad on the desk. "Aha! I have proven that it's possible to solve the fire problem!" He gets back to bed and goes to sleep.
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