Subject: And they're off!
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996 18:01:40 -0400

>From Will Safford (via Roy).  For some reason, the mathematician in this
joke makes me think of Dr. Sweeney at Sage...

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    An engineer, a mathematician, and a physicist went to the races one
  Saturday and laid their money down. Commiserating in the bar after the
  race, the engineer says, "I don't understand why I lost all my money.
  I measured all the horses and calculated their strength and mechanical
  advantage and figured out how fast they could run..."

    The physicist interrupted him: "...but you didn't take individual
  variations into account. I did a statistical analysis of their
  previous performances and bet on the horses with the highest
  probability of winning..."

    "...so, if you're so hot, why are you broke?" asked the engineer.

    But before the argument can grow, the mathematician takes out
  his pipe and they get a glimpse of his well-fattened wallet.
  Obviously here was a man who knows something about horses.  They both
  demanded to know his secret. "Well," he says, between puffs on the pipe,
  "first I assumed all the horses were identical and spherical..."

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