I can recount numerous similar examples, such as the formula for happiness, the perfect fried egg and pot of tea etc. I also recollect the mind boggling polynomial equations some boffins, we once worked with, developed in trying to find an alternative to the Zeigler - Nichols auto tune (temperature controllers) algorithm. One of the most amusing things I've read about, however, surrounds the simple probability of tossing a coin.

A learned professor once thought of the possibility of devising a formula to predict the result of a coin toss. Naturally it didn't take him long to realise that with the number of variables involved such a formula would be almost impossible (never say never) to produce. However, this didn't stop him using the basis of the idea in his various lectures.

One day, during the course of one of these lectures, he produced a coin (a 10 pence piece, if I remember correctly) and tossed it in the air. To the amazement of all, and without any assistance, it landed . . . on its edge!

I'm led to believe that the likelihood of such a thing happening far exceeds that of winning the U.K. lottery (almost 14, 000, 000 : 1 - for a single set of numbers), though how anyone could determine such a thing is far beyond me. Suffice it to say that those present had a once in a lifetime's experience.