8
$\begingroup$

In the book Real World Haskell, there's a non-programming-related puzzle in a footnote at the bottom of page 15, in the middle of a simple text-processing problem:

...

Find or create a text file; let's call it quux.txt:*

$ cat quux.txt
Teignmouth, England
Paris, France
Ulm, Germany
Auxerre, France
Brunswick, Germany
Beaumont-en-Auge, France
Ryazan, Russia

...

* Incidentally, what do these cities have in common?

While I hope my abilities will prove sufficient to solve the book's programming problems, this little geography puzzle is beyond me. What do these seven cities have in common?

|improve this question|||||
$\endgroup$
9
$\begingroup$

Interestingly, this puzzle has little to do with geography and more to do with science! These cities and towns are:

The birthplaces of famous mathematicians (and scientists), each of whom is frequently considered among the greatest in world history.

As follows:

Charles Babbage, b. 1791/2 in Teignmouth, England (although some sources argue he was born in London)

Augustin-Louis Cauchy, b. 1789 in Paris, France

Albert Einstein, b. 1879 in Ulm, Germany

Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier, b. 1768 in Auxerre, France

Carl Friedrich Gauss, b. 1777 in Brunswick, Germany

Pierre-Simon Laplace, b. 1749 in Beaumont-en-Auge, France

Andrey Andreyevich Markov, b. 1856 in Ryazan, Russia

|improve this answer|||||
$\endgroup$
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Off-the-point, but then why call the file 'quux'? (if you know!) $\endgroup$ – JMP Aug 26 '19 at 12:30
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @JonMarkPerry Yes, 'quux' is just another equivalent of 'foo' or 'bar' often used by programmers when naming something which doesn't particularly require a meaningful name. It's a placeholder, nothing more, and unconnected with the puzzle itself :) $\endgroup$ – Stiv Aug 26 '19 at 12:42
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ For what it's worth, 'quux' is canonically the fourth placeholder, following 'foo', 'bar', and 'baz'. $\endgroup$ – Jeff Zeitlin Aug 26 '19 at 13:07
  • $\begingroup$ And it's ordered alphabetically by (spoiler) and cut off for some reason at M; otherwise Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, England would be next. $\endgroup$ – Peter Shor Aug 26 '19 at 21:58

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.