Obtaining accurate body weights of captive elephants in Sri Lanka

摘要

In the Chinese folktale Weighing the Elephant1, wa small Chinese village called ‘Beyond the Clouds’ is ruled by a cruel and clever emperor. In the village lives a baby elephant named Huan-huan. When the elephant was brought into captivity by the emperor, he neither performs tasks nor responds to commands. This makes the emperor angry and he threatens to banish Huan-huan from the village, sending him into exile. The evil emperor then issues an impossible puzzle: the villagers can save Huan-huan onlyif they can deduce how much the elephant weighs. The solution eludes even the combined efforts of scholars. A child comes up with an ingenious, and scientifically sound answer.