# Intractable physics/trigonometry problem

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intractable-physics-trigonometry-problem/773453>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intractable-physics-trigonometry-problem/773453 "2016-11-30T13:59:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intractable-physics-trigonometry-problem/773453/21 "2016-12-01T21:12:10Z")

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Aka [Abel’s impossibility theorem.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel%E2%80%93Ruffini_theorem)

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**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intractable-physics-trigonometry-problem/773453/22 "2016-12-01T21:53:00Z")

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I’m curious as to what horrific misdeed **naita’s** pupils committed to cause such a terrible punishment to be inflicted …

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**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intractable-physics-trigonometry-problem/773453/23 "2016-12-01T23:03:11Z")

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> [@watchwolf49](#):
>
> I’m curious as to what horrific misdeed **naita’s** pupils committed to cause such a terrible punishment to be inflicted …

Finding the angles of the rods isn’t so bad, actually. It’d say it’s a fair problem, and the math isn’t particularly messy. Now, _maximizing_ the angle with respect to the applied electric field – that’d be cruel and unusual…

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intractable-physics-trigonometry-problem/773453/24 "2016-12-02T06:49:09Z")

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> [@Pasta](#):
>
> Finding the angles of the rods isn’t so bad, actually. It’d say it’s a fair problem, and the math isn’t particularly messy. Now, _maximizing_ the angle with respect to the applied electric field – that’d be cruel and unusual…

And I didn’t even ask for the angles. I’m such a pushover.

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