This answer incensed the examiner, who failed the student at once. The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct; the university appointed an arbiter to decide. The latter judged that the answer, though indeed correct, showed no noticeable knowledge of physics. So the student was allowed six minutes to give an oral response showing at least minimal familiarity with physics. The student came up with several responses:
 

• Drop the barometer from the roof of the building and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building is then ¹/₂gt², g being the acceleration of gravity and the time.
• If the sun is shining, measure the length of the barometer and then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Measure the length of the building's shadow, and use proportional arithmetic to work out its height.
• Tie a piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. Work out the height by the difference in the gravitational restoring force.
• If the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, walk up it and mark off the height of the building in barometer lengths, then add them up.
• Use the barometer to measure pressure on top of the building, com-pare that pressure with standard pressure on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building.
• Knock on the janitor's door and say, "I'll give you this nice new barometer if you tell me the height of this skyscraper."