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  #221  
Old October 2nd 04, 05:09 AM
William Hamblen
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On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 08:51:01 -0500, "CatNipped"
wrote:

Jumping up and waving hand Algebra!!! Cut Algebra!!!!! Yeah! When was
the last time you figured out what "x" was in real life! ;


Not that long ago for me.

  #222  
Old October 2nd 04, 05:09 AM
William Hamblen
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On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 08:51:01 -0500, "CatNipped"
wrote:

Jumping up and waving hand Algebra!!! Cut Algebra!!!!! Yeah! When was
the last time you figured out what "x" was in real life! ;


Not that long ago for me.

  #223  
Old October 2nd 04, 05:45 AM
Seanette Blaylock
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Howard Berkowitz had some very interesting things
to say about A Miracle Story (WAS: Latest news on "the eye"):

Admittedly computer science rather than literature, but I still remember
a brief and dubious sampling of one graduate program. I was taking a
course in [of interest to CS people only] discrete mathematical
structures, and the lecture was on applications of finite state automata.
The professor happened to pull an example from a very familiar industry
document, a standard method of measuring network performance. He showed
a page, and said "the description here can be rewritten in our terms to
mean AAA".
I raised my hand. "Professor, do you think that BBB might be an
alternate interpetation?"
"Nonsense. This is clear."
A few minutes later, I inquired again, "could it be that the thought was
BBB?"
"No".
I couldn't stand it any longer. "Sir, I really think you should conside
the BBB interpretation."
He whirled around and demanded "why on earth do you think a silly thing
like that was in the committee's mind?"
"Because that's not what I meant when I drafted that section. You might
want to look at the list of coauthors."
It was clear he was tenured, as he changed the subject with barely a blink.


ROTFL!!!!!

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL
  #224  
Old October 2nd 04, 05:45 AM
Seanette Blaylock
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Howard Berkowitz had some very interesting things
to say about A Miracle Story (WAS: Latest news on "the eye"):

Admittedly computer science rather than literature, but I still remember
a brief and dubious sampling of one graduate program. I was taking a
course in [of interest to CS people only] discrete mathematical
structures, and the lecture was on applications of finite state automata.
The professor happened to pull an example from a very familiar industry
document, a standard method of measuring network performance. He showed
a page, and said "the description here can be rewritten in our terms to
mean AAA".
I raised my hand. "Professor, do you think that BBB might be an
alternate interpetation?"
"Nonsense. This is clear."
A few minutes later, I inquired again, "could it be that the thought was
BBB?"
"No".
I couldn't stand it any longer. "Sir, I really think you should conside
the BBB interpretation."
He whirled around and demanded "why on earth do you think a silly thing
like that was in the committee's mind?"
"Because that's not what I meant when I drafted that section. You might
want to look at the list of coauthors."
It was clear he was tenured, as he changed the subject with barely a blink.


ROTFL!!!!!

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL
  #225  
Old October 2nd 04, 03:49 PM
William Hamblen
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On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 08:13:15 GMT, wrote:

So, what does the poem mean??? I was sure that x was going to be
some magic number!


It means use the Quadratic Formula.

  #226  
Old October 2nd 04, 03:49 PM
William Hamblen
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On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 08:13:15 GMT, wrote:

So, what does the poem mean??? I was sure that x was going to be
some magic number!


It means use the Quadratic Formula.

  #227  
Old October 3rd 04, 09:13 AM
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OK, I've been pondering this for a while, and have come to the
conclusion that it is unsolvable. (Non-math people will probably
either find this boring or it will bring back frightening memories
of high school math classes!)

O J wrote:

Allow me a brief poetic interlude:


But what are all such gaieties to me,
who's head is full of indices and surds.
X squared plus seven x plus fifty-three
equals eleven thirds.
(Author unknown -- at least I've forgotten)



So,

(Note - I'm using the ** operator to mean "to the power of", so
"x**2" means "x squared")

x**2 + 7x + 53 = 11/3

3x**2 + 21x + 159 = 11

3x**2 + 21x + 148 = 0

This can't be factored, because no pair of factors for 148 can be
added together to make 21.

So, what does the poem mean??? I was sure that x was going to be
some magic number!

Joyce
  #228  
Old October 3rd 04, 09:13 AM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

OK, I've been pondering this for a while, and have come to the
conclusion that it is unsolvable. (Non-math people will probably
either find this boring or it will bring back frightening memories
of high school math classes!)

O J wrote:

Allow me a brief poetic interlude:


But what are all such gaieties to me,
who's head is full of indices and surds.
X squared plus seven x plus fifty-three
equals eleven thirds.
(Author unknown -- at least I've forgotten)



So,

(Note - I'm using the ** operator to mean "to the power of", so
"x**2" means "x squared")

x**2 + 7x + 53 = 11/3

3x**2 + 21x + 159 = 11

3x**2 + 21x + 148 = 0

This can't be factored, because no pair of factors for 148 can be
added together to make 21.

So, what does the poem mean??? I was sure that x was going to be
some magic number!

Joyce
 




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