[man]

close to the one about the spherical cow:

A gangster who loved to bet at the racetrack kidnapped a chemist, a mathematician, and a physicist to force them to find ways for him to find money at the track. He gave them all a month and he threatened to kill all three if they didn't come up with anything useful, then he locked them up in labs.

The month expired, and the gangster first went to the chemist and said, "So, what do ya got for me?"

The chemist said, "I've created this new variation on amphetamines that there's no test for because it's new. Give this to the horse before the race and it'll make him run faster, and at least for a while it'll be undetectable."

The gangster said, "Great, go stand over there and wait."

Then the gangster went to the mathematician and said, "So, what do ya got for me?"

The mathematician said, "I've found some flaws in the way tracks calculate the betting odds. If you follow these instructions, it'll increase your chances of walking away a winner."

The gangster said "Great, go stand over there and wait."

At last the gangster went to the physicist and said, "So, what do ya got for me?"

And the physicist said, "Consider a spherical horse in simple harmonic motion..."