Settling yourself into the new role of Royal Dispute Settler, your first item on the agenda concerns a young filly who happened to catch your advert in the paper and decided to seek your advice. You ask why she never asked her parents, but she explains that they're part of the problem.
Her father's birthday is coming up, apparently, and as he is an avid pool champion (six times winner of the Cue Shot Equestria Championships, Senior Division), she decided to send a commemorative solid gold pool cue: she had previously thought about a solid gold surfboard for the summer, but decided against it on the grounds gold doesn't float).
Anyway, her problem is this: the cue is a good solid two metres long exactly, but due to the Canterlot Post-Office's rather unreasonable health and safety policy, no package that exceeds one and a half metres in length, width or depth can be put through the regular parcel delivery service. What's more, as it's a present, she really doesn't feel like cutting the cue into smaller pieces, bending it, or otherwise damaging this frankly ludicrously expensive gift just to slip it past regulations.
Amazing what rich fillies do with their pocket money, am I right?
Anyway, your first problem (or puzzle) is to figure out how she can mail this gold ball-tapping stick through the mail without the post-pony getting on either of your cases. How?
I can't do square root on my phone so exact numbers I can't present. But it's pythagoras. A package 1.5x1.5 will definitely contain the pool cue if it's placed diagonally.
Awesome more riddles
make the box as big as possible on each side, then place the cue so one end is in the bottom left front corner,and the other in the top right back corner, should have just enough room to close the box
Stick it in the box diagonally.
9279858
To give numbers to this
1.42×1.42×however thick the cue is
They never said that the cue couldn't be designed to unscrew and be placed in the box with both parts side-by-side. She just said it couldn't be damaged. So logically at the handle would be the ideal place to put where the cue unscrews and screws back in. Additionally, it can be hollowed out this way so the package doesn't exceed the weight limit (assuming there's that unspoken requirement) and the package won't exceed the length or width of the box.
Aren't pool cues design to screw apart, or am I just uncultured?
Set it in there diagonally, from complimentary angles.