Funny results of what happens when you don't study.

Ouch. My abdomen hurts.

I once had to do a physics problem for a test. Even though I had the answer, I could not for the life of me figure the process. So, I wrote down the equation and then the answer below it...in between I wrote..."Then a mathematical miracle occurs."

I got half credit.

Mac: That's also a Sidney Harris cartoon.

This is why we keep on top of the world economy. It has nothing to do with knowledge and everything to do with creativity under pressure.

Thanks Bruce, I thought it was original....sigh.

I had a fluid mechanics exam once, in which I assumed that, because the temperature wasn't given in a question, it to be below the freezing point of the working fluid (water), which was therefore propagating as a solid. Some simple rigid-body assumptions followed, an easy answer resulted, and I moved on in 2 minutes on a question that took most people an hour.

I ended up with a surprisingly good mark in that course, asked no questions, and promised myself I'd only deal with stuff above the atmosphere from then on. :-)

The answers are about as inane as Robert Oler's but at least they're better written and more entertaining. :-)

They asked me for what they use Boron in nuclear reactors. I answered, "They lull the atoms to sleep when they've been naughty."

(I learnt much later that boron is, in fact, used somewhere in the reactor shutdown process.)

I thought the "find the x" solution (hypotenuse of the triangle) was logical. If I had been presented the problem, I would have answered "x=5cm", remembering my 3,4,5 rule, but then I suspect to get counted off for not writing out the theorem and solving it long hand.