John VanSickle wrote:
> I'm noticing that I can do some of these problems without a computer.

	Yes - particularly a bunch of the early ones, although I found at least
one problem in the 20's that I did by hand.

-- 
In an Astronomy class (toward an Astronomy major, not that gen-ed crap)
the professor did not tell us we would have to remember constants, and
he asked them as questions. They were short questions, and weren't worth
a lot.

One of them was: What is the orbital period of Saturn? (2 pts/100)

I started thinking about Bode's law and the possibility I could
calculate it from an approximate radius I would get from that law... if
I could remember it. But when you expect a 72% to be an A on a test, you
have bigger fish to fry.

Then I got it. It was right, it should work, and no one would have to be
nailed to anything.

I wrote: One Saturn-Year

I didn't get credit for it. A couple years later a sophomore was telling
me about this funny question he had in the same class. He showed it to
me. It read:

What is the orbital period of Saturn? (Do not put one Saturn-Year)

I was so right that it had to be guarded against. Yet those were 2
points I would never have.

(as told by SetupWeasel on Slashdot)


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