myrmepropagandist on Nostr: There’s a joke about an engineer, physicist and mathematician who wake up to ...

There’s a joke about an engineer, physicist and mathematician who wake up to discover a fire in their wastebasket. The engineer quickly estimates the water needed to put it out, doubling the quantity for good measure and puts out the fire. The physicist calculates the amount needed and uses exactly that: putting out the fire. The mathematician looks at the fire realizing it is a “solved problem,” she falls back asleep.

This “mathematical laziness” is valued in Computer Science as well.