Statically indeterminate

Okay kiddo, imagine you have a puzzle, and it has 5 pieces that all fit perfectly together. Now imagine you take one piece away, but you still want to put the puzzle together. You could still do it, but you wouldn't know exactly where the missing piece goes. It could be in more than one spot, right?

Well, in engineering, we sometimes have structures that are like that puzzle with the missing piece. These structures have more than one possible solution or way they could hold up, even though all the pieces fit perfectly. We call these structures "statically indeterminate."

So basically, it means that the structure can't be solved with just one formula or way of doing things. Engineers have to use really advanced math and computer programs to figure out how much weight the structure can hold and how it will behave under different conditions. It's kind of like a really complicated puzzle that only really smart people can figure out.