trBlueJ

on one finger? that is to say, only one person can break it?

solution is a = 2, b = sqrt(3).

0.5 * 9.8 * 19^2 = around 1768 meters or 1.7 km. That is a minimum estimate for the height of the mountain under the assumption that gravity here is the same as on earth. However, the actual height is likely to be greater, as this calculation does not take into account air resistance.

"They did not dare to not reply."

"It's a son!"

Interestingly, the price of aluminum actually exceeded that of gold up until around the 1850s, due to the difficulty involved in refining its ore. Methods for mass production of aluminum were only invented towards the end of the 19th century. So, it is unlikely that they would have aluminum available to them.

The sentence indeed sounds like something a real person would say.

So, it's a euphemism?

I understand your point. However, under these specific circumstances, have you counted the number of paragraphs of exposition in a row (minus a single paragraph in the middle?) Because, I counted 49. That is a lot of chapters of exposition. It may be difficult to tell how much is too much, but I think it should be pretty clear that 49 paragraphs is too much.

So he didn't notice it, and then he didn't believe what he didn't notice?