There is a chain of ponds adjacent to each other, each one lower than the one
before. There walls between them. There are fish that live in them. The fish
can occasionally jump over the walls (only downstream), taller walls being less
likely to be hurdled.
If you start with a certain number of fish in the highest pool, how do they
distribute over time? (You'll need to know exactly how often they jump and how
likely each jump into the next pool down succeeds.
And your answer will only be a statistical one, it will not predict exactly for
a given run.)
Someone starts the very unusual behavior (outside of stars) of throwing neutrons
into pools. They stick to the fish and lift them to higher pools, before
bursting.
.....
If you want to buy some fish, you are a lab physicist or research engineer. If you see the answer immediately you are a mathematician or theoretical physicist. If you write a simulation you are a computer scientist.
I suppose if you eat the fish afterwards, you're a piscivore.
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I will gladly borrow a photon from the quantum foam and pay you back Tuesday.
