Forty two years ago, I read an essay from 1928 by J. B. S. Haldane titled &quot;On Being the Right Size&quot; [1], it appeared in the wonderful four volume set <i>The World of Mathematics</i>.<p>I&#x27;ve always remembered the main point: volume and properties related to volume increase as the cube of the scale factor for similar objects while area (surface or cross-section) increase as the square. See for example the Google interview question that appears in the movie &quot;The Internship&quot;.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;irl.cs.ucla.edu&#x2F;papers&#x2F;right-size.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;irl.cs.ucla.edu&#x2F;papers&#x2F;right-size.html</a>