Denny at Grouchy Old Cripple has six wonderful tales that can help you to understand the mental processes of an Engineer.
Here is one of them:
The difference between a mathematician and an engineer. An engineer and a mathematician are put in a room. At the other end of the room is a beautiful naked woman. They are told that every time a bell is rung they may move half the distance to the woman.Five more where this one came from -- all good!
The mathematician: I'll never get there.
The engineer: Start ringing.
If you were a political science major you probably didn't get that joke. Have one of your coworkers at Pizza Hut explain it to you.
Telling a mathematician (or a scientist) from an engineer:
Six students were being sent to a conference in another city, three mathematicians, and three engineers. Being grad students, they're paid somewhere well below the poverty line - and so they were scouring papers and clipping coupons to find the _cheapest_ way to make the trip.
They all decided on the same train line independently. The three mathematicians went up to the counter and requested three train tickets. (3x19.95)
One of the three engineers walks up and buys one ticket. (1x19.95)
All six board the train and pick seats. The engineers wander off. As the conductor enters the car, the mathematicians hand over their tickets.
After the conductor leaves, the engineers return to their seat, grinning.
Mathematician: What?
Engineer: Well, we could tell you, but it needs to stay a secret.
M: Ok.
E: We all piled into the lavatory and handed out our one ticket when the Conductor knocked and said 'Ticket Please?'. Three people, $19.95!
Another Engineer: I can beat that.
Mathematician: We'll stick to this method until you can prove it!
So...
On the way back, one mathematician went up and got a ticket. They didn't see the engineers around. Wanting to beat the engineers, they went and hid in the Lav immediately.
So when the engineers arrived at their seats, one walked to the Lav, knocked, and said "Ticket Please?"... and got a ticket.
And a Physicist would say
"Consider the woman as a sphere------"