Tallest Lego building with 4 pieces?

One commentator here questioned why is this on HN (and was DVd somewhat) There is the fact that dad teaches stuff to daughter. The lesson is fun and interactive. The concepts dealt with are pretty profound and can be quite deep: constraints, maxima and minima.<p>Well done dad - you&#x27;ve covered some complex stuff in a fun and accessible way. Good skills.<p>If anyone else doubts why this is valid Hacker News, they may want to simply hand in their nerd card and do something else.

Ah, jacquesm bait, ok here is my solution (left), right one is an alternative to yours.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;h7HnB" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;h7HnB</a><p>just the tops:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;wsqCw" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;wsqCw</a>

Reminds of a genetic algorithm that was made to optimize lego structures[0]. One of the most notable results of this was optimizing for a structure as long as possible with a single support. What they got was a 2 meter long organic looking cantilever that experienced significant brick deformation[1]<p>[0]<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu&#x2F;pr&#x2F;buildable&#x2F;evocad&#x2F;aid00&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu&#x2F;pr&#x2F;buildable&#x2F;evocad&#x2F;aid00&#x2F;</a> [1]<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu&#x2F;pr&#x2F;buildable&#x2F;long_bridge&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu&#x2F;pr&#x2F;buildable&#x2F;long_bridge&#x2F;</a>

I think you can do ever so slightly better by moving the pink dot to the highest pip on the 2x2 green cylinder - it extends a little beyond the pip, so you&#x27;d gain about a millimeter that way.<p>If it&#x27;s not cheating to have parts not completely attached, you could maybe even balance the pink dot on top of the green cylinder for an extra 3-4mm.

Ok, an even better one:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;FXhbH" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;FXhbH</a>

&gt;The only rule is “The structure needs to stand on its own.”<p>Melt it down and recast it, duh. :)

Very fun! It reminds me of teaching my son to play tic-tac-toe. He started in the top-left, I went center, he went top-center, I blocked top-right, he went in between top-left and top-center and quickly claimed victory. I gave him that one and said he had to go in an unused square. Next game he started top-left, I went center, he went top-center and then before I could go he hurried and went top-right and again claimed victory. I don&#x27;t remember what we did after that but I do remember thinking it was more fun pushing the rules than the actual game.

To entertain myself, I gave this some thought before I clicked. I assumed exactly what the title says: which 4 lego pieces create the tallest structure that stands on it&#x27;s own.<p>Well, we need the biggest bricks we can find, my mind went to the ship hulls: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ebay.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;?iid=282223262072&amp;&amp;&amp;dispItem=1&amp;chn=ps" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ebay.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;?iid=282223262072&amp;&amp;&amp;dispItem=1&amp;chn=ps</a><p>So how can we connect 2 of these together, and make it stand vertical? Or can we?<p>It might be that we need the 3 pieces to make the brick stand... I&#x27;m not sure.<p>And then I clicked on the article...<p>(I&#x27;m not sure if I&#x27;ve even found the largest brick, or if I&#x27;ve found a 3 brick component; how do we define &quot;brick&quot;? Why do I care? Please comment and subscribe, it really helps ;)

10.9cm free standing, no glue or tricks but top two bricks are just resting, not attached.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;gallery&#x2F;FEk9l" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;gallery&#x2F;FEk9l</a>

It might be interesting to compare the height achieved by a given configuration, to the upper bound on heights (sum over largest dimension of all 4 pieces).

You can do a bit better if you put the round piece at the base, and make the blue piece diagonal just like the big flat piece.<p>You&#x27;d need to balance everything on the round piece, but the little pink dot should assist in that.<p>Kind of like those balanced rocks thing :)

Gain an extra 2mm or so by just resting the pink piece on top?

Asking questions, challenging assumptions, bending the rules, and just trying things are all core to the hacker mentality. Well done sir!

It&#x27;s funny, but I feel like this is exactly the kind of skill required in engineering or business generally -- &quot;How can we creatively maximize &#x27;x&#x27; given what we&#x27;ve got?&quot;<p>In fact, it wouldn&#x27;t strike me as an unreasonable interview question, using the physical pieces. Of course some people are better with spatial reasoning than others (and experience with Legos is another leg up) -- but using several simple, general-purpose questions along these lines almost feels like a FizzBuzz for any job where problem-solving is an important part.

Sorry but isn&#x27;t two or three cheating? These are not valid ways to connect Lego are they?

Very cool post, in regards to the people clicking on the link and then bashing the author, it would be nice if you could bring some arguments to your disliking&#x2F;bashing.

Thank you. I&#x27;ve now had a similar discussion with my two girls (Aged 11 and 4). Was a far better way to spend the evening than a typical night of Netflix.

&quot;My daughter asked me&quot;

kudos to Lego marketing department for great viral

I have no idea why this post is so popular. I&#x27;m equally confused at why I find it so interesting.

Does this content really belong to hackernews?