There's a story (probably apochryphal) that Edison asked
a new employee to calculate the volume of a light bulb.
The young man sat for some time with calipers and a slide
rule, making little progress. Edison finally interrupted his work,
poured water into the bulb, then emptied the water into a
graduate. (The graduate's name is not recorded.)

Wait, His boss said 'calculate' the volume, not 'measure' the
volume, nor 'find' the volume. The employee was doing as
asked. Why ridicule him? Or, is the original anecdote contain
a misquote?

I might have misquoted it. Edison might have said "find".

Regardless, one of the points of this anecdote is that you should look for a
good solution -- not necessarily the solution you were asked for.