Zen Computer Science - Period 3 - Tuesday - Week 2

[kevin-flynn.livejournal.com]

Flynn sat at his desk again, feet up, waiting for everyone to shuffle through and check in.

On the table near the front sat a small collection of shoeboxes, taped shut.

Once he was satisfied that everyone was present, he began class.



"Understanding computers is not just knowing how to click here, or click there. It's about knowing what your machine
can and cannot do, and it's history of why."

He grinned.

"Computers are logical. They use a system that dates back to the time of the Greeks and Aristotle, only modified
and tasked to suit the technology used today." Flynn got up and stood in front of his desk.

"So today, we're going to study logic. To that end, we're going to have a little fun." he grinned the patented Flynn boyish grin.

"I want you to partner off into groups of threes or twos, and every group gets a box from up here." He gestures to the box. "Inside each box is one
object. Using just your powers of observation and WITHOUT looking in the box, tell me what's inside it."

Flynn looked at their faces. "This means no powers as well, so don't get any bright ideas."

He watched the kids play with the boxes and waited for any of them to come up with an answer.

Comments

Play with your boxes!

[kevin-flynn.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Inside the box is a wooden dowel, shaped like an octagon. This is based off a real exercise in logic, intended to test your skills at observation and intuition, seeing how you can assemble information from points at hand. I don't quite know how well it can translate over to texty-type fun, but it's worth a go.]

Here is where we have the fun, trying to figure out what's in the box.

Re: Play with your boxes!

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami picked up the box and brought it over to where she and Henry were. The first thing she did was shake it. "I think there is only one thing in there, and it is smaller then the box."

Re: Play with your boxes!

[henryoredward.livejournal.com]

Henry almost gave Ami a look at her idea that the object inside was "smaller then the box," as one would think that that would be an assumption. But after a second, Henry realized that it made sense. If it were a blanket or some other foldable item, it could conceivably be "bigger" than the box, if smaller in mass.
Henry nodded. "Right. It's a hard object, and -if I may-" he picked up the box and weighed it in his hands, "it doesn't seem to be too heavy. Substantial, but not weighty."

Re: Play with your boxes!

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami nodded. "Does it roll?" she asked, as Henry had the box currently.

She started carefully making a list in her notebook.

small
singular
hard
not weighty

Re: Play with your boxes!

[henryoredward.livejournal.com]

Henry tipped the box, slowly, feeling no movement. "No, I don't think-"
*clunckclunkclunk*
There was a soft sound as whatever was in the box decided to roll. Henry smiled. "Yes, it does. But there is a delay and an uneven quality of the moment. I'd say that our object has multiple flat sides." He offered the box for Ami to try. "What do you think?"

Re: Play with your boxes!

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami tipped the box so whatever it was went all the way to one side and then slooooowly tipped it the other way.

*clunk-clunk-clunk*

"I think you are right. Hang on." She pulled a ruler out, measured the distance the object would have to travel across the box and did the tipping again. "I think it clunks 10 times across the *handwavey* distance. So each side is *handwavey* divided by 10."

Re: Play with your boxes!

[henryoredward.livejournal.com]

Henry grinned. This was too much fun. He picked the box back up, and tilted it the other way.
*sss-clunk*
and back.
*sss-clunk*
Again, it took a while to move, but when one moved it this direction, it slid a little, then hit the side of the box.
"Right," Henry said, and put the box back down, "it's longer one way than the other. Not only does it take less time to finish moving, but does not have the space to roll."

Re: Play with your boxes!

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami made more notes.

many sided
each side is X in width
is oblong
is longer then length of box/2

She took the box from Henry, and keeping a hand palm up on it's bottom, raised it and sharply lowered it, causing the object inside to rise off it's 'floor' briefly. "Hmm, i think it is about this long." She indicated where she felt the object hit her palm through the box.

Re: Play with your boxes!

[henryoredward.livejournal.com]

Henry nods, thinking. "And the material from which our object is constructed is probably not slick. When we tipped the box either way, there was a bit of time before it rolled or slid. Were it made of a polished material, it would've slid right away." He frowned. "But the surface itself cannot be too rough, because it was able to slide..."

Re: Pair up!

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac picked up the box tipped it from side to side a bit, then put it down again. "Well, whatever it is, it's hard," she said.

Re: Pair up!

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

"Right." Marco gave the box a shake. "Any ideas?"

Re: Pair up!

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"It rolled kinda lumpily," she said, lacking in a better description for it, "and was pretty light. Maybe wooden or plastic perhaps?"

Re: Pair up!

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

Marco gave the box another shake. "The thudding sounds more wooden the plastic. Also? It's not alive. And if it was, it isn't any more."

Re: Pair up!

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac blinked. "You think he'd put something dead in a box for a class exercize?" she said.

Re: Pair up!

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

Marco shrugged. "He's a teacher. But probably not."

Re: Pair up!

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"I guess if it's wood, it's technically a dead tree," she theorised.

Re: Pair up!

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

"Point. So that's our final answer? Piece of dead wood?"

Re: Play with your boxes!

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

Willow peered at her box intently. "Hello?"

Hey, it was worth a shot.

Re: Play with your boxes!

[the_merriest]

Rikku picked the box up and shook it a few times, lightly. "It's not too heavy. Er, and I hope it wasn't anything breakable."

Re: Play with your boxes!

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

"And it's either mute or very shy," Willow said.

Re: Play with your boxes!

[the_merriest]

"Or else maybe I stunned it." Rikku set the box down suddenly. "Um, sorry about that, Box-Thing, if you're alive and all!"

Re: Play with your boxes!

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it's scared?" Willow asked. She leaned in. "Are you being held prisoner? If so, we are here to help you! Um - assuming you didn't deserve it!"

Re: Play with your boxes!

[the_merriest]

Rikku hugged her knees. "Maybe it's not a Box-Thing after all. I mean, he said we could smash the boxes, right? He wouldn't do that if there were nice happy little box creatures in there." Well, unless he were sadistic and evil, but he seemed nice enough so far.

Re: Play with your boxes!

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

Willow rummaged in her bag and brought out a sharp pencil. "Could we give it a good poke? That way if it's something evil we're already armed."

Re: Play with your boxes!

[the_merriest]

"Oooh. That's a good idea." She nodded. "Although if it's evil, I bet we could take it." Even without her grenades.

She nudged the box closer to Willow. "Go ahead."