Talk:Square peg in a round hole
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name for the action?[edit]
i remember that some time ago i read somewhere that "trying to insert a square peg in a round hole" was called somthing, but i don't remember the name mentioned, any ideas? --TiagoTiago (talk) 06:10, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
Centuries ago, cobblers fixed leather heels on the soles of shoes by making a round hole with an awl, then hammering in a wooden peg that was square in cross-section. Since the diagonal of the square peg was greater than the diameter of the round hole, it held more securely than a round peg of the same diameter as the hole would have. I learned this in a re-enactment of a colonial cobbler's shop in Salem, N.C. I don't know whether his explanation was correct or not, but he said he was using the same techniques as cobblers used centuries ago. DanVinson (talk) 12:45, 12 January 2014 (UTC)Dan Vinson
Mathematics square peg problem[edit]
I have been studying Toeplitz's square peg problem in my mathematics degree, which is asking the question of when one can find a square with vertices in a loop in the plane. I believe that this would be an interesting addition to this page. The page for this problem is [[1]] 2A0C:5BC0:40:10C0:A508:6A4D:4411:667C (talk) 13:39, 16 June 2022 (UTC) SFR19
square leg in round hole entry[edit]
The mention that builders forced a square peg into a round could be improved. The practice was to use a hardwood square peg to lock a softwood joint. The holes in the two joint pieces were slightly offset. The peg drew the joint tighter. According to Eric Sloane in "A Reverence for Wood" the dissimilar woods would fuse together. This practice was common before iron nails became readily available. 166.181.82.60 (talk) 22:14, 6 May 2023 (UTC)