An engineer and a mathematician are in a room with one door. Both of them are asked (one at a time) to go into the next room, where they will find a pot of water and a stove, and boil the pot of water.
The engineer goes into the next room, sees the pot of water sitting on a table, puts it on the stove, turns on the stove, and waits until it boils.
A little bit later (the room is reset for the mathematician), the mathematician goes into the next room, sees the pot sitting on the table, puts it on the stove, turns on the stove, and waits until it boils.
Now both of them are asked to do this again. However, this time the pot of water is on the floor.
The engineer sees the pot of water on the floor, puts it on the stove, and waits until it boils.
The mathematician, however, sees the pot of water on the floor, puts it on the table and proclaims, "I've solved this problem already."    
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