Real-Life Decision Making
You have designed a racetrack to be used for automobile racing. Your client has given you a tight budget.
You are now testing the track with some test drivers. You want to make sure that everything is working smoothly before you sign off on the project.
You discover that your track is graded too steeply when going over a hill. When you did your calculations, you determined the safe grade using a formula that relied on the speed of the cars. You estimated that the cars would be going 160 km per hour maximum when they reached the hill.
Unfortunately, your estimation was off. One of the test cars actually reached a speed of 180 km per hour by the time it got to the hilltop. At that speed, it left the ground slightly and became slightly airborne as it went over the hill. This is not a good thing -- it is dangerous for both cars and drivers.
If you fix the grade, it will mean additional cost and you are already at your budget. What is worse, it will mean delaying a race that the track owner has scheduled for next weekend. It will be a big inconvenience and mean a big loss of money to the owner.
Only one car hit 180 -- and it became only slightly airborne. Perhaps it would be safe to tell the owner to go ahead with the race next weekend, and then fix the track afterwards. That way, the track will blow its budget, but at least the owner will not lose the income from the scheduled race.
What do you do?