I recently moved out an old couch from my home and brought in a new one. And believe me, they felt like the most difficult two hours of my life! Reminded my FRIENDS-obsessed self about the epic ‘Pivot’ scene!
You remember the ‘Pivot’ scene right? FRIENDS Season 5 Episode 16, Ross orders a new sofa for his apartment but tries to save on the delivery charges by attempting to carry it upstairs. With help from Rachel and Chandler of course!
And the one thing that he cannot stop saying is…
Ultimately, what happens is the sofa gets stuck mid-stairs and has to be sawed into half and returned to the store!
But guess what? GUESS WHAT? That was totally unnecessary! That couch could’ve gone up the stairs and straight into Ross’ apartment quite easily.
Unfortunately for Ross, Data Science Consultant, Caroline Zunckel wasn’t there to solve the conundrum from conundrum for him! She’s managed to use math to figure out what Ross could’ve done to get the sofa upstairs without much, well, ‘PIVOT’ing!
According to SpareRoom, Zunckel explained,
“By applying Pythagoras’ theorem to the estimated measurements of Ross’s sofa in a vertical position and dimensions of the stairs, I was able to establish that it would have been possible to get the item upstairs. It’s quite simple really!”
Check out this cool and easy-to-understand illustration that explains the entire procedure step-by-step!
Basically, what this means is that Ross just had to take some measurements and figure out the exact angle at which to tilt the sofa so it can be pivoted easily enough!
Now I know there’s a scary-looking equation thrown in the mix! But hey, if anyone could’ve done it, it would have to be Ross!
Damn it! Had he known this earlier!
Thank God he didn’t though! Because then how would we get one of the most hilarious scenes of the show! Watch it once more, for old time’s sake!
https://youtu.be/R2u0sN9stbA
*BRB dying of laughter!*