Finals
So I was writing a post for tomorrow and went off on a tangent so pointless, so ... tangential, that it was worthy of its own post, today.
...It was on differential equations and I remember solving the final answer through a clever process of trial-and-error. Once I found one solution, I was able to find the others. I think the first solution was f(x)=e^(x^2), but don't quote me on that.
Can I diverge here a moment and ask (rhetorically since no one reads this) if the use of contractions and words like "kinda" (mentioned tomorrow... huh, tense trouble) is acceptable in a non-blog such as this?
My most favorite final was in stellar astrophysics where I just simply could do no wrong. In one case, I could not find the definition of a particular variable and simply set its value to 1, not realizing that under the conditions specified in the problem, its value was 1. The problem had to the mean free path of a photon in a star.
Third on my list was the biology exam (I only needed to take one lower-division bio class as a physics major) to which I brought my stuffed rabbit and had one of the grad students ask to borrow it.
The honorable mention of finals goes to the Third World Literature course I was taking as pass/no-pass and was going into the final with an A. How were the others getting Bs and Cs on their papers? I was phoning mine in. Anyway, I did not even bother finishing the final; I walked out after finishing the short-answer and one of the long essays. I chickened out a bit and wrote an outline, explaining that "this is what I would write if I wanted to bother writing it," for the last long essay.
...It was on differential equations and I remember solving the final answer through a clever process of trial-and-error. Once I found one solution, I was able to find the others. I think the first solution was f(x)=e^(x^2), but don't quote me on that.
Can I diverge here a moment and ask (rhetorically since no one reads this) if the use of contractions and words like "kinda" (mentioned tomorrow... huh, tense trouble) is acceptable in a non-blog such as this?
My most favorite final was in stellar astrophysics where I just simply could do no wrong. In one case, I could not find the definition of a particular variable and simply set its value to 1, not realizing that under the conditions specified in the problem, its value was 1. The problem had to the mean free path of a photon in a star.
Third on my list was the biology exam (I only needed to take one lower-division bio class as a physics major) to which I brought my stuffed rabbit and had one of the grad students ask to borrow it.
The honorable mention of finals goes to the Third World Literature course I was taking as pass/no-pass and was going into the final with an A. How were the others getting Bs and Cs on their papers? I was phoning mine in. Anyway, I did not even bother finishing the final; I walked out after finishing the short-answer and one of the long essays. I chickened out a bit and wrote an outline, explaining that "this is what I would write if I wanted to bother writing it," for the last long essay.
Labels: Miscellany
posted by Patrick at 7:13 PM
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