The elevator paradox is a paradox first noted by Marvin Stern and George Gamow, physicists who had offices on different floors of a multi-story building. Gamow, who had an office near the bottom of the building noticed that the first elevator to stop at his floor was most often going down, while Stern, who had an office near the top, noticed that the first elevator to stop at his floor was most often going up.
At first sight, this created the impression that perhaps elevator cars were being manufactured in the middle of the building and sent upwards to the roof and downwards to the basement to be dismantled. Clearly this was not the case. But how could the observation be explained?
Read more about Elevator Paradox: Modeling The Elevator Problem, More Than One Elevator, The Real-world Case, Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words elevator and/or paradox:
“The indifferent clerk he knowing what was going to happen
The lobby zombies they knowing what
The whistling elevator man he knowing
The winking bellboy knowing
Everybody knowing! I’d be almost inclined not to do anything!”
—Gregory Corso (b. 1930)
“...This
is the paradox of vision:
Sharp perception softens
our existence in the world.”
—Susan Griffin (b. 1943)