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fandomhigh2009-09-04 01:41 pm
offthelisthero.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2009-09-04 01:41 pm
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Engineering Math, Period 2, 4 Sep '09
The Danger Shop was set up to mimic a regular high school classroom as the students arrived. Standing by a desk at the front of the room a syrup-free Mohinder counted off the arrivals as they got in.
Class assembled, Mohinder took up a casual perch on his desk, and started, "Welcome class. I'm Dr Suresh, and you're in Engineering Math. If you didn't intend to be, then you've a few minutes to find yourself somewhere else." He started passing out the syllabus and a couple of handouts. "Now, we'll start with some introductions before the actual maths. It's Friday so you should know this by now - let's have your name, hometown, and favourite or lucky number or numbers."
When the introductions were over Mohinder walked over the board behind him and stuck two brightly coloured magnets to it. "The shortest route between two places is easy. A straight line." He illustrated. "Adding a third point," he stuck another one up and connected it, adding more as he continued, "makes it only a little more difficult. But the more you add, the faster it becomes even more complicated. Brute force calculations - trying out every possibility - becomes impractical with even 20 cities." He digressed into the problems of computation for a few minutes.
"I'm not asking you to solve that," Mohinder finished. "Although if you're looking for a million dollars there's a prize currently available for its solution. We'll be starting with something more small scale. You all have pedometers on your desks." He hit a button on the remote he was holding and the room dissolved into a wider area with several coloured points. "And a shortest route to find."
[The OCD, it has arrived!]
Class assembled, Mohinder took up a casual perch on his desk, and started, "Welcome class. I'm Dr Suresh, and you're in Engineering Math. If you didn't intend to be, then you've a few minutes to find yourself somewhere else." He started passing out the syllabus and a couple of handouts. "Now, we'll start with some introductions before the actual maths. It's Friday so you should know this by now - let's have your name, hometown, and favourite or lucky number or numbers."
When the introductions were over Mohinder walked over the board behind him and stuck two brightly coloured magnets to it. "The shortest route between two places is easy. A straight line." He illustrated. "Adding a third point," he stuck another one up and connected it, adding more as he continued, "makes it only a little more difficult. But the more you add, the faster it becomes even more complicated. Brute force calculations - trying out every possibility - becomes impractical with even 20 cities." He digressed into the problems of computation for a few minutes.
"I'm not asking you to solve that," Mohinder finished. "Although if you're looking for a million dollars there's a prize currently available for its solution. We'll be starting with something more small scale. You all have pedometers on your desks." He hit a button on the remote he was holding and the room dissolved into a wider area with several coloured points. "And a shortest route to find."
[The OCD, it has arrived!]
Re: Introductions 1 (EM)