An Engineer, a Physicist, and a Mathematician all go to stay at a hotel, where each room is identical in every way.
In the middle of the night, the Engineer’s TV set bursts into flames, startling him awake. He looks at the situation, grabs the notepad on the desk to make a quick calculation, then runs to a faucet with the ice bucket. He fills the bucket to the precise level calculated, and pours all the water over the TV, which proves to be just enough to snuff out the flames. He then goes back to sleep.
At the same time, the Physicist awakens to his TV bursting into flames. He strolls out of bed to fill the ice bucket with water, and proceeds to completely soak the burning appliance, extinguishing the flames and covering the area with water. He then goes back to sleep.
Simultaneously, the Mathematician is awakened by his burning TV. He looks at the TV, then at the ice bucket, and then at the faucet. At this point, he determines that a solution to the problem exists, so he goes back to sleep.
