18 Apr
2016
18 Apr
'16
11:52 a.m.
in an ideal situation, a paperclip of total length L can be bent into a structure of height L-epsilon for any epsilon>0. this is achieved by bending three small legs supporting it, each with length somewhere close to epsilon/5. or have i misunderstood your question? erich
How tall a stable structure can you build using an idealized paperclip that you are allowed to bend but not disconnect, subject to the constraint that it must rest stably on a tabletop?