squares & sticks // 2 cents on proper problem formulation

[Paul Schlosser]

Since the issue of what happens when a stick just touches the edge or
corner of a square arises, perhaps a better (more complete) description
would include:
1) the sticks have no width, only length
2) a stick is counted as crossing a square only if it projects some
   distance into the interior of the square (i.e., just touching the
   edge or a corner doesn't count).
The original poster will have to say whether or not these conditions on
the physical analogy actually represent the real problem being considered.

Paul
schlosser at beta.ciit.org