Forty two years ago, I read an essay from 1928 by J. B. S. Haldane titled "On Being the Right Size" [1], it appeared in the wonderful four volume set The World of Mathematics.
I've always remembered the main point: volume and properties related to volume increase as the cube of the scale factor for similar objects while area (surface or cross-section) increase as the square. See for example the Google interview question that appears in the movie "The Internship".
Comments
Forty two years ago, I read an essay from 1928 by J. B. S. Haldane titled "On Being the Right Size" [1], it appeared in the wonderful four volume set The World of Mathematics.
I've always remembered the main point: volume and properties related to volume increase as the cube of the scale factor for similar objects while area (surface or cross-section) increase as the square. See for example the Google interview question that appears in the movie "The Internship".
[1] http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html