Someone (probably me) asked our calculus professor if learning the calculus would have practical applications. What could the calculus do that nothing else could? He replied that if you wanted to know what was the longest ladder you could carry, horizontally, around a corner where two hallways of different widths met, there was no way to do it except with the calculus. Except, of course, the empirical method. Now if he'd talked about sashaying . . . --John Bear, who was a math major from the start of my sophomore year to the day Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the world series, and I had to decide, after the 6th inning, whether to watch the game or go to a calculus mid-term. I have never needed to carry a ladder around a corner, and I'm still glad I saw that game.
