fandomhigh | MATHS CLASSES: Friday 21.10

MATHS CLASSES: Friday 21.10

Charlie's desk is overflowing with papers today, and two of the blackboards are covered with x, y, brackets, equal signs and exclaimation points. Charlie seems a little frustrated but mostly cheerful. He tells you that he's moved his office hours to Tuesdays, and that four consecutive classes missed without an excuse now equals being kicked out of class. He then gives you a sheet of paper and tell you to go sit down.

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Kawalsky pretty much bounds into the classroom and signs the sign-in sheet.

The students are handed a sheet with the following on:

Continue this sequence with the next four numbers:
1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25...

The students are handed a sheet with the following on:

A man has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river. He has a rowboat, and it can only carry him and one other thing. If the fox and the chicken are left together, the fox will eat the
chicken. If the chicken and the corn is left together, the chicken will eat the corn. How does the man do it?

At the bottom is scrawled: Give me a solotion by the end of class.

"Archie, Lisa, Kitty, Thomasina, Broots -- I need a TA. As you're in my advanced group, you get first shot at the position. If this is something you're interested in, please fill out this application (http://www.livejournal.com/users/charlieeppes/634.html). Then you may spend the rest of class telling me why e is irrational." Charlie beams.

Charlie approves of this kind of enthusiasm for maths.

Angelus signs in.

Han signs in, more subdued than ususal. Dark circles under his eyes and a dark bruise on his jaw testify it's been a bad week.

~~A fox is a farmer's worst enemy.~~

Angelus hands in a piece of paper by the end of class which reads:

He takes the chicken first. Next he goes back and picks up the fox. He takes the fox over and brings the chicken back. He leaves the chicken on the first side and takes the corn over. He leaves the corn with the fox then goes back and gets the chicken.

Han shakes his head. Granddad had taught him this one with mavir, a nerf and a ferl.

"The man takes the chicken across, leaving the fox and the grain. (Fox and grain on side 1, chicken on 2)
He brings the grain across and takes the chicken back. (Fox 1, Grain 2, chicken in boat)
He leaves the chicken and brings the ~~ferl~~ fox across. (Chicken 1, Fox & grain 2)
He makes a last trip and brings the chicken across."

As he turns in the paper, Han gives a wry smile. "He needs a bigger boat."

Charlie snorts, taking the paper. "You might be right about that."

Kawalsky works it out in a couple of minutes because it's a practical problem and hands in this (http://tinypic.com/estevp.jpg).

~~Really? I thought that was you?~~

(ooc: sorry again for yesterday. For some reason I failed to realise that after working later, all I'd want to do when coming home would be showering for eight hours and then sleep. a lot. yay sleep!)

Charlie looks amused, scribbles down a big for the illustration and returns the paper.

~~You're thinking of how a chicken is David Boreanaz's worst enemy~~

[ooc: No worries. He had things to do for Ethics class and such anyway, so it's all good.]

Kawalsky grinned. He liked this math class a lot better than the last one.

Thomasina signs the roster and takes a seat at one of the desks reserved for the advanced students.

"Umm... what do we do with the rest *sneeze* of class, then?

Oh, and Professor Eppes, I have a note for my absence on Wednesday from Dr. Wilson in the clinic. Sorry, I've been *cough* sick."

Lisa signs in.

"Well done!" Charlie takes her paper and scans it, beaming. He winces a little at her coughs and nods. "Valid abscence that, I won't hold it against you." He eyes her for a moment. "You were absent the day we talked about what you want to be doing, right? Broots, Thomasina and Kitty were interested in computers, Archie in navigation... What about you?"

Thomasina has to think for a moment before remembering this one, but when she answers, it is with completel confidence. e's irrationality can be demonstrated through a proof based on its series expansion. If one supposes that e=a/b, and that a and b are positive integers, one can then demonstrate that for the number x=b!(e - Σ 1/n!) [b, n=0] x is not only an integer, but a positive integer that is less than 1. Since there are no positive integers less than 1, e is, of necessity, irrational.

[OOC: Please forgive my bastardised notation. The b obviously belongs over the Σ and the n=0 below it.]

"Excellent, Thomasina!" Charlie smiles.

((ooc: dude, like I'd know. *g*))

"My main interest is in medicine, actually, but one must be well-versed in math and science to properly study the field. Biomathematics is an interesting course of study. I am fairly fluent in computers, but surely not to the degree some of my fellow classmates are. I would also be interested in studying that kind of technology more in depth." Lisa smiles and sneezes again.

Charlie nods. "I believe I'll have your first project be computer related." He looks uncertain for a moment. "I wasn't quite sure who to contact to set it up, but I left a message on Dr. Carter's voicemail, in case she'll be able to help."

Thomasina smiles back, quite cheerfully. Thank you. That one's quite simple to prove - unlike Fermat's joke.

[OOC: Yeah, well, Charlie would. *g* So I'm just saying that the notation used to write that out does not in fact represent what Thomasina would have actually literally said accurately. It's not horrible, but it's not right either. And I'm obsessive, but feeling too lazy to dig out a means of making the notation correct for the purposes of posting one comment.]

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