Know the Hypotenuse of Your Square
Love and geometry have a lot in common. When you are first learning about love, you wonder why you need to learn anything. Love comes natural, you protest. Love is something you will know how to do when you need it, you do not need to take a class in love, and you know that even if you took a class, you would forget the lessons when you needed them. Well recently I purchased a lamp. The lamp came in two pieces and needed to fit perfectly for the design to work. I opened the two boxes and it was love at first sight. The frame was a wire cross that measured 26 inches. The shade was to fit inside the cross frame and it measured 32 inches. Clearly the manufacturer had made an error.
How could a 32-inch perfectly square shade fit inside a 26 inch perfectly square frame? After returning the lamp and reordering three times from the same manufacture. Finally, I said there must be another way to look at this. With the help of a friend who did not think geometry class was a waste of time, we found a solution. The two pieces did fit perfectively if the hypotenuse of the shade was place in the frame in a different way.
Well, if you have ever fallen in love, thought it was a perfect match, only to find you just did not fit together, remember this story and remember to check the hypotenuse of your square.
