"Good morning, Mr.
Janus." The pretty receptionist beamed brightly at the large hulk laboring
through the front office.
Janus waved a huge hand in
greeting as he waddled past the girl and entered the office marked
"Director." Once inside, he closed the door and gratefully lowered
his bulk into the large accommodating chair. His small head seemed to recede
into some turtle-like aperture as he hunched his shoulders and relaxed his neck
muscles.
While he waited for his heart to
stop pounding, he automatically started exercising his powerful fingers and
hands in preparation for the day's work. He alternately opened and closed each
hand, stretching his fingers out as far as possible. Then, satisfied that his
reach extended over a full keyboard, he carefully massaged and worked the
individual joints until each was limber. Finally, he placed both hands on the
two desk keyboards and ran through several classic programming exercises.
At the first light touch of the
large flat-ended fingers, the computer screen on the front wall flashed to life
and began displaying the results. Janus peered intently at the screen from his
hunched position. Then, satisfied with his performance, he flicked off the
front display and turned to his left wall.
His heart had settled down and he
could now devote full attention to setting up his wall displays. Janus
considered this daily selection of office motif one of the most important
decisions he would make during the course of the day's events. The director was
of the opinion that, by matching his mood with his office decor, he would be
more efficient in his daily duties. The fact that he sometimes wasted an hour
wrestling with the decision did not concern Janus.
Today, however, the taxpayers were
scheduled for a few extra minutes of the director's time, for the decision had
already been made. During breakfast, he and his wife had discussed the problem
at length and selected a theme for each wall. Once again, his fingers began to
move over the keyboards.
The left office wall became alive
with blue and green hues, then formed into a tasteful set of window drapes. A
large picture window appeared through which could be seen one section of the Mackenzie River. The scene was live, and an intrepid adventurer, utilizing one of the
ancient-style riverboats, passed across the window, caroming down the famous
rapids. The fact that Janus' school was over two thousand miles away was of no
consequence to the director. As he told his wife that morning, he felt
"Mackenzie-ish."
Janus observed the idyllic scene
for a while, making a few minor color adjustments, then turned his attention to
the right-hand wall. Once again his fingers raced over the two keyboards,
touching levers and buttons.
The right-hand wall flashed into
life, completely occupied by Dragoni's famous painting of the planet Uranus as
seen from the satellite Umbriel. As an added attraction, the planet's two additional
moons, Ariel and Miranda, were programmed into the scene and could be observed
moving vertically across the picture.
Janus shook his head sadly. The
moons were not part of the original painting. To the director, it seemed a
sacrilege to mar a great work of art with what appeared to be two golf balls
floating about idiotically. He waited until the two moons had disappeared
behind the chilly wastes of the planet, then punched a button marked HOLD.
There was no visible change to the picture, but the motion of the two
satellites had stopped, and they would remain out of sight for the rest of the
day.
Janus smirked triumphantly and
turned again to the front wall directly opposite his desk. He sighed, pushed a
key marked IN, and reluctantly began the day's business.
The screen sputtered a few times,
then settled down to a tasteless black and white lettering format, displaying
the first of the director's incoming correspondence.
In quick succession he dispatched
several minor administrative matters, dictating his directions into a small
recorder. The verbal messages were programmed into literal form and shown on
his screen. After his approval, they were shunted off to the intended receiver.
The morning wore on. The director's
powerful hands and fingers moved over the two keyboards simultaneously while he
stared ahead at the display screen. Data were corrected and filed, budgets set,
bills paid, memos dictated, transfers approved, reprimands given, all with a
few slight motions of fingers and hands. The Mackenzie gurgled silently along
the left wall. Uranus radiated bleakly on the right.
Throughout the city, similar
scenes were being enacted. Fat men with small heads and large, paw-like hands
and fingers were ensconced comfortably in their wide contour chairs. Depending
on the nature and magnitude of their work, they had one, two, three, or four
keyboards on their desks. Hereditary, flat-ended fingers raced up and down the
boards, adding accounts, writing letters, dispatching trains and rockets.
Beneath the city, the huge
computer hummed softly, nourished by the millions of remote consoles feeding
and requesting information.
Now the school district notices
appeared on Janus' screen. A and O Mathematics Contests would start the
following weektwo candidates from each schoolaccuracy and least amount of
computer time to be the judging criteria againnames required by end of day.
Here was something Janus could not
handle with a push of a key. He stopped the incoming messages and swung around
to the rear wall screen. His fingers again raced over the keyboards. The A and O
classroom came into display. Three hundred students sat facing a huge screen
which alternately showed word problems followed by the programming logic. At
each desk was a computer console similar to Janus'. As the problem and solution
were displayed, each student followed through on his own console, pushing
buttons and levers. Relyan, the teacher, sat in the rear of the room at his own
console, monitoring individual responses with a desk-sized screen.
Janus sighed. Somewhere in that
mass were two students that he and Relyan had to pick to represent the school.
Relyan hadn't mentioned any possibilities yet. This was because there were
none, he supposed. It looked like good old Second School 572 wouldn't make it
again.
This was bad, thought Janus. Five
years in a row with no one reaching the finals. Although it was denied by the
district, he knew that the contests were one method of rating the individual
schools. And their directors.
A wave of despair and anxiety
swept through Janus and the gnawing pain started in his stomach again. His
heartbeat increased, and he signaled the receptionist outside.
"Yes, sir?"
"Malan, bring in some milk
and rolls, pleaseand some of my pills."
Janus turned back to the classroom
display and tried to rationalize himself into a calmer state.
The girl entered carrying a tray.
She stopped suddenly, staring at the left wall.
"WhyMr. Janus! That's beautiful!
It's a river, isn't it? I've never seen one, but my folks have."
Janus was pleased with her obvious
approval of his selection. He momentarily forgot about the contest, and his
heartbeat slowed.
The young girl prattled on.
"And that's Uranus, isn't it? We have one at home. But where are the moons?
They're there, you know. You get them programmed in with the picture. My dad
makes them go fast and slow"
Janus felt a sharp pain in the
center of his forehead. He removed his glasses and pinched the skin between his
eyes.
"UhMalan, thank you for the
milk and rolls. Just leave the tray here. I have a lot of work this
morning."
"Yes, sir," said Malan.
She looked at the rear screen. "Oh look! There's Mr. Relyan!" She
giggled and left the room.
Janus quickly took the pill and
gulped it down with the milk. As his heartbeat subsided, he grabbed up a
doughnut and once again considered the classroom scene, munching thoughtfully.
The students were now working on
their own. Relyan had handed out an A and O problem set which applied to the
class exercises they had just finished. Each problem had to be programmed, data
input, accuracy and number of iterations determined. The answer appeared on a
small display screen located on each desk. Also shown was a score for the
student, calculated automatically by the computer. The score was based on the
deviation of the answer from the correct solution and also on the amount of
computer time used.
In addition to programming the
problem correctly, the student had to come up with the best compromise between
accuracy and machine time required for solution. The accuracy factor was called
DFT (for Deviation From True) and the calculation time was MCT for (Machine
Calculation Time). The score was simply determined by adding the two factors
together with the lower scores being the most desirable. Thus, an answer close
to exact would have a low DFT value but would probably require a large MCT and
thus offset any advantage. Conversely, if a solution was obtained with a small
value of MCT, the DFT was always very large.
Janus flicked a switch ' putting
him on a voice circuit to Relyan. He saw the red light flash on the
instructor's desk and waited until Relyan raised the small speaker to his ear.
"Janus here, Relly. How's it
going?"
He smiled as the instructor
straightened up and self-consciously started to arrange some papers on his
desk.
"O.K., sir. We're doing an A
and O problem set now. I was about to go onto individual console monitor."
"Good, Relly. I want to do
that with you. We've got to come up with our two contest candidates
today."
"Is it that time already?
Good Heavens! I don't have anyone I'd want to send. These kids are getting
dumber every year."
"Maybe you just teach in a
dumb district," said Janus, sarcastically. "Or maybe it has something
to do with the weather."
He saw Relyan redden. "I
didn't mean it that way, sir. It's just that they"
Janus cut him off. "I know
what you mean, Relyan. And I agree. Even the District has noticed it. The test
scores are getting larger and larger over the years. But that's no consolation
to us. We've still got to send two up there next week. Who got the lowest on
last week's test?"
"Chang and Granadi,"
said Relyan. "The scores are stored in Central. You can retrieve them now
if you call up A and O Test 86/12."
"O.K., I'll do that. Go ahead
with individual monitor. I'll be taking a look at those two soon."
"Right." Relyan started
to cut out the voice circuit, then spoke again. "Oh, Mr. Janusyou still
there?"
"Still here, Relly."
"Ahthere's one score which
may be confusing to you. Boy named Beaker. Number 176. His score sum was zero
for the whole test. I've put in a call to Maintenance and switched him to
another console."
"Probably in the scoring
circuit," said Janus. "We had that problem last year, only the score
never went to zero. As I recall it was a large negative number. The kid started
crying."
Relyan chuckled. "I don't
blame himalthough I would like to know how to get a minus MCT. That would
really save us some money."
"Quit dreaming and get back
to work," ordered Janus. "I'll get back with you later."
He switched off the voice circuit
and swung around to the main display screen. His fingers moved over the two
boards, requesting data retrieval from A and O test 86/12. The information
flashed onto the screen.
Janus chuckled. There was Beaker
with his malfunctioning circuits and impossible score. He wondered why the boy
hadn't said something to Relyan about his scoring circuits. And there was
Washoe, making the classic beginner's error. He was closer to the correct
answer than anyone, but had used almost three times as much machine time in the
calculation. It had been just that type of sloppy programmingon a larger scale
of coursethat had caused a recent power failure and subsequent black-out of an
entire city.
Washoe was out, thought Janus. It
would take more than a week to get him out of that habit. Then it had to be
Granadi and Chang, although neither of those scores was respectable. His own
average as an aspiring young contestant had been around 3. Last year, the
contest was won with an average of 4.1. Relyan was right. Kids were getting
dumber.
But what was Beaker's actual
score? We owe it to the boy to see what he can really do, thought Janus.
He swung around to the classroom display and set up the screen for individual
monitoring of student 176.
Beaker's desk came on in a
close-up monitoring mode. Janus could see the boy's two keyboards and the desk
area in between. He also could see the small display console. The score
capitulation from the last problem was still on the screen. Janus zoomed the
monitor closer to read the results.
PROBLEM NO:7
CALCULATED ANSWER: 5 APPLES
MCT: 0.00 SECONDS
DFT: 0.00
PERCENT SCORE: 0.00
Janus moved the monitor back to
watch the boy while he puzzled over the screen display. The calculated answer
was right, evidently, as shown by a zero DFT. But the calculation time was
zero! Janus frowned. The boy's eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep.
Then his hand moved to the right keyboard. The boy's fingers punched two
buttons and, the display screen changed. Janus again zoomed in to watch the
screen.
PROBLEM NO:8
CALCULATED ANSWER: 3 ORANGES
MCT: 0.00 SECONDS
DFT: 0.00
PERCENT SCORE: 0.00
Finally it came to him. The boy
had an answer sheet for the problem set and was entering the solution manually.
The computer logic was such that a score was calculated on the numerical value
of the solution, no matter how it was entered. His answer was exact, therefore
a zero DFT. No calculating time required, hence the zero MCT.
Janus got on the voice circuit to
Relyan again.
"I've solved your Beaker
problem, Relly. You can call off the maintenance people on his old console.
He's got an answer sheet and is entering the solution manually."
"So that's it!"
exclaimed Relyan. "No wonder he's got zeros for scores. Wait a minute
here! That can't be! I selected those problems at random last night, and I
programmed them for solution this morning before class. There's no formal
answer sheet floating around on that set!"
"Well, he's got them
somehow," said Janus. "Monitor him if you don't believe me. How else
can you get exact answers with zero machine time?"
"That's got to be it,"
admitted Relyan.
"Anyhow," continued
Janus, "Chang and Granadi are probably the ones to send. Do you
agree?"
Relyan sighed. "I suppose so,
but neither of them has a chance."
"I agree," said Janus,
"but what else can we do? Give them as much help this week as you can.
I'll put their names in this afternoon. Meanwhile, let's you and I and young
Mr. Beaker have a little talk in my office. Sayright after lunch?"
"Right, Chief. I'll tell
himsee you then."
"Mr. Janus and Mr. Relyan are
in conference right now. Would you please sit down? It won't be very
long." Malan indicated the wooden chair next to Janus' door.
Beaker sat quietly and waited.
Malan peered across her keyboards, studying the boy.
He's certainly a
strange-looking young man, she thought. With that head sticking out so far,
she could even see his neck sometimes. Malan decided that was what made him
appear so tall. That and the fact that he looked like a pencil compared to
Janus and Relyan.
And those fingers! Long and slim
and rounded on the ends. She wondered how he managed a keyboard. Still, he was
kind of attractive, she thought. In a tragic, ancient sort of a way.
Ancient! That was where she had
seen him before. Or someone who resembled him. He looked just like the people
on that historical wall display her folks had. The one that showed those tall,
hungry-looking men putting up a flag on top of a hill.
A light flashed on her console.
"You can go in now, Mr. Beaker."
Janus and Relyan were standing at
the Mackenzie window watching another boatman bobbing up and down in the
rapids. When the boat had gone off the screen, Janus turned to the boy.
"Sit down, Beaker. Mr. Relyan
and I want you to do a little explaining. Right, Relyan?"
"Right, sir. We certainly do,
uh, want that." Relyan smiled nervously at Beaker.
The director's voice had a cat and
mouse ring to it, and he smiled maliciously at the boy.
"Mr. Beaker, your A and. O
scores on last week's test and again on today's problem sets have been zero. In
fact they have been zero point zero zero. You can't get any lower than that,
Beaker. Theoretically, you are the best math student the school or district has
ever had. Would you like to explain how this can be?"
"Yes, sir," said Beaker.
"It's because my MCT is zero in each case and so is my DFT. The score is
the sum of the two para"
"I know how the score is
calculated, Beaker," said Janus. "I used to be an instructor myself.
In fact, I was even a student once if you can believe that."
"Yes, sir," said Beaker.
"Well?"
"Well, uh, well what,
sir?"
"Don't act stupid, Beaker!
How can you explain getting an exact solution with zero machine time unless you
have an answer sheet. You should have more sense than that. You know everything
is monitored and stored. It's all there in the memory units. You have just
electronically hung yourself boy! You can't even cheat cleverly. Now, if I were
going to use an answer sheet, I would make a few phony calculations, just to
get some time on the computer, then manually enter the answer. But I know the
system better. You're only an amateur, Beaker. And a darn stupid one at that!
This will probably wash you out!"
Janus had spoken savagely,
expecting immediate submission, but all he saw was a confused look come over
the young face. By this time, most students would be tearfully confessing.
"But sirI don't have an
answer sheet. How would I get one? How would I even know which problems Mr.
Relyan would give?"
"That's exactly why we're
here, Beaker. To find that out," said Janus. Then he continued, his voice
sarcastic with feigned patience.
"All right, you say you don't
have an answer sheet. Then how do you get the exact answers? Do you dream them?
Maybe you do. I saw you with your eyes closed in class."
"No sirI don't dream
them," said Beaker. "I justsort ofthink of the answers. I don't
know how to explain it, sir, but I figure out the answers in my head, then
enter them manually. It's lots quicker than programming the problem, and the
answers are all exact."
Janus removed his glasses and
pinched the bridge of his nose again.
"Oh boy! I've been teaching
for twenty years and directing for ten more, and I've never heard of anything
like that! We place a multimillion-dollar computer right at your fingertips and
you tell me you'd rather do it in your head. Now I know you're dumb!"
"That could be, sirbut
you'll have to admit I have the lowest scores in the class. As you yourself
said, you can't get any lower than zero."
Janus exploded. "Why you
little! Do you really expect me to believe"
The director stopped in
mid-sentence and put his hand over his heart. For a long minute he remained
motionless, mouth open, staring straight ahead. Then he slowly moved his left
hand to his desk, located a pill, and quickly popped it into his mouth.
Finally he spoke. "I'm O.K.
Don't worry, you two. I'm not going to die yet. At least not until I get to the
bottom of this. Right, Beaker?"
"Yes, sir, I"
"Never mind, Beaker. While I
wasuhindisposed there, I thought of a way to let you prove yourself. Are you
willing?" The director's voice implied that Beaker had better be willing.
"Yes, sir. Uhwhat is
it?"
"If you can 'think up' these
answers as you say," replied Janus, "then you shouldn't really object
to thinking up a few more for me. Right?"
"Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir. I
wouldn't mind."
The director reached into a desk
drawer and brought out the green A and O Problem text. He handed the book to
Relyan.
"Relyan will select a few
problems at random and read them to us. You can think up the answer or whatever
it is you do. I'll program it here as a check." Janus indicated his two
keyboards with a wave of his hand.
He continued, "You better be
exact, otherwise we can only assume you have been using answer sheets up till
now. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Is there anything you need
to help you in this remarkable demonstration, Mr. Beaker?" Janus was
enjoying himself now. The pill had taken full effect. He was relaxed and happy
and looking forward to demonstrating his programming abilities.
"WellI could use a piece of
scratch paper and pencil if you have them," said Beaker.
"No, we don't," said
Janus. "You've got to learn to use whatever tools are available. Quite
often, you will find this may be a simple desk computer. Roughing it, as we
used to say. Mr. Relyanthe problem, please."
The teacher read the problem.
"Programmer Number One has seventeen apples. Programmer Number Two has
thirteen apples. Programmer Number three has no apples. How can the total
number of available apples be distributed among the three programmers so that
each has the same amount?"
While the teacher spoke, Janus'
fingers were moving over the keyboards, storing information and setting up
printing formats. When Relyan finished the last sentence, Janus paused for a
split second, then pushed several buttons, programming in the even distribution
logic.
"Ten," said Beaker.
Janus looked up and stared at the
student.
"Ten? Ten what?"
"Each programmer gets ten apples,"
said Beaker.
Janus snorted. "We'll see
about that!"
He made a quick decision as to the
number of iteration steps required. 108 should be enough, he
thought. That way there would be no doubt as to accuracy. He pushed a button
marked ITER, then another labeled 108. The answer immediately
flashed on the display screen.
CALCULATED ANSWERS:
PROGRAMMER ONE: 1.00000000 X 101
APPLES
PROGRAMMER TWO: 1.00000000 X 101
APPLES
PROGRAMMER THREE: 1.00000000 X 101
APPLES
DFT: NOT KNOWN. TRUE SOLUTION NOT
PREVIOUSLY
ENTERED. PROBABLE ACCURACY: 1 X 10-8
MCT: 8.7 SECONDS
"There you are," said
Janus. "Programmer One has one point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero
zero times ten to the one apples. Programmer Two has one point zero zero
zeroin fact they each seem to have the same amount. Ah yes! I recall that was
one criterion." He beamed triumphantly at Beaker.
"That's what I
saidten," said Beaker.
"Ten? That's not what the
computer got," said Janus. "I got one point zero zero zero"
Beaker interrupted, "I know,
sir, but that is the same as ten."
"We'll see about that."
Janus furiously punched more buttons, asking for another form of 1.00000000 x
101. He got 10.0000000 x 100.
"Try the literal
button," suggested Beaker.
Janus did. The screen flashed again:
TEN (PLUS OR MINUS 1.0 X 10-8).
"Humph! I agree that the
answer is ten," said Janus, "or close to it."
Then, to save face, he added,
"But I shouldn't have to convert to literal form to prove it. After all,
we calculate with numbers, not words."
"Yes, sir," said Beaker.
"That was just a warm-up,
Beaker. Now we'll get down to some complete A and O problems. Those involving
both apples and oranges." Janus looked critically at the boy,
trying to detect some hesitancy.
"Yes, sirboth apples and oranges,
sir."
"Very well, thenRelyan,
apples and oranges, if you please."
The teacher intoned the next
problem: "Student A has a sack of apples. Student B has a sack of oranges.
There are five times more apples than oranges. The total number of both apples
and oranges is eighteen. How many apples does student A have? How many oranges
does student B have?"
Janus punched furiously. Beaker
closed his eyes for a second, then said, "One point five zero zero zero
zero zero zero zero zero times ten to the one apples for A, and three point
zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero times ten to the zero oranges for
B."
Janus hadn't yet decided on his
iteration scheme. He stared at the boy ominously.
"Write it down, Beaker. That
way, there'll be no argument later."
"I don't have a pencil or
paper, sir," said Beaker.
"GET HIM ONE, RELYAN!"
Relyan jumped to his feet and
fished around in his pocket. Finally he came up with a pencil and handed it to
the boy along with a piece of scratch paper. Beaker wrote down his answer.
Janus finished the setup for
iteration and pushed ITER. They all looked at the screen.
CALCULATED ANSWERS:
STUDENT A: 1.50000000 x 101
APPLES
STUDENT B: 3.00000000 X 101
ORANGES
DFT: NOT KNOWN. TRUE SOLUTION NOT
PREVIOUSLY ENTERED.
PROBABLE ACCURACY: 1 X 10-8
MCT: 9.1 SECONDS
"There's the correct
solution," said Janus. "What did you get, Beaker?"
Beaker handed over the slip of
paper. Janus looked at it critically, comparing it with the screen.
"I got the same thing,
sir," volunteered Beaker. "In fact, I wrote it down exactly in that
form up there on the screen."
"I can see that," said
Janus, irritably. "Well, I'm still not convinced. Continue, Mr.
Relyan."
Two hours later, Janus' console
experienced severe overheating. The keyboard locked and could not be budged.
Embarrassed, the Director notified Maintenance, then sat back in his large
chair and smiled apologetically at Beaker.
"Well," said Janus,
"I guess I have to believe you, Beaker. Would you tell us how in thunder
you manage to do this?"
"I don't really know myself,
sir. I guess Gramps making me learn the Times Tables has something to do with
it."
"The what Table?"
"The Times Tables, sir. You
knowtwo times two is four. Two times three is six. I know them all the way up
to twelve times twelve."
"What on earth are you
babbling about, Beaker? Please talk slower."
"It's simple multiplication,
sir. Two taken twice is four. Two taken three"
"Stop right there," said
Janus. "Two what?"
"Two anything. Use oranges if
you like," said Beaker. "Two oranges taken twice is four oranges. Two
oranges taken three times is six oranges. Two oranges"
Janus interrupted. "Do you
mean to say that you memorized the fact that two oranges multiplied by two is,
uhwhat did you say it was?" The director's hand automatically moved to
his console to perform the multiplication. Then he remembered the machine was
inoperative.
"Four, sir. Four
oranges."
"Yesand two oranges
multiplied by three is what?"
"Six oranges," said
Beaker.
"You went to the trouble to
memorize all that when you have a computer which can do it for you in a matter
of nano-seconds?" Janus stared unbelievingly at Beaker.
"I had to, sir. Gramps made
me do it. He doesn't think much of these computers."
"I suppose this, uh,
`Gramps', is your grandfather?" asked Janus.
"No, sir. He's my great
grandfather. He says his father made him memorize them too."
"What about your grandfather
and father?" asked Janus. "Don't they have anything to say about
this?"
"Oh, noGramps made them
memorize the Tables, tooyears ago. But they forgot. I'm the only one in the
family who uses them now."
Janus shuddered. What a horrible
thing to do to children, he thought. Completely unnecessary regimentation of
the mind!
"And by memorizing all these
multiplication facts, you are able tothink up the answers?"
"Yes, sir. Except I also have
to know my lets."
"Your 'Lets'?"
"Yes, sirlet A equal apples
and let O equal oranges and let"
"Never mind, Beaker."
Janus removed his glasses again and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I
think that's all for now. You may go. I'm sorry we wrongly accused you."
The director pressed his temples wearily.
When the boy had gone, Janus
looked at Relyan quizzically.
"What do you think? I mean
about entering him in the contest."
"I don't know," said the
teacher. "It doesn't seem quite fair. It's almost as if you sent along
your own computer instead of a student. Did he really memorize all that
stuff?"
"YesI believe the lad. Evidently
when you have those, uh, things memorized, along with some other knowledge
which he calls the `Lets', you can sort of think up the answers."
"The whole thing is
inconceivable to me," said Relyan. "Especially when you consider the
fact that it's all so unnecessary."
"I know," said Janus.
"But you have to admit he's better than you or I on the A and O
problems."
Relyan sighed. "That's true.
And he didn't overheat."
The two men stared at the
Mackenzie for several minutes.
Finally, Relyan spoke. "You know,
you said something earlier which was very interestingthat if you already knew
the answer, you could perform a fake calculation on the machine to keep from
getting a zero MCT. Well, along the same line of thinking, you could also enter
a number slightly different from the solution in order to keep from getting a
zero DFT."
Janus nodded thoughtfully. The men
stared at the river again. Finally, the director turned and spoke to the
teacher. "Mr. Relyan, I think our two entries in the annual A and O Mathematics
Contest should be Beaker and Granadi."
"I agree, Mr. Janus. After
all, they had the lowest scores in last week's test."
Janus nodded. "You can work
with Granadi, Relyan. I'lluhsort of 'brief' Beaker on how he should use the
computer up at the District. Other than that, he doesn't need any more
help."
"No, sir," said Relyan.
"He certainly doesn't need our help."
Beaker turned the test page and
studied the last problem.
"School Director A has four
apples and twelve oranges. School Director B has six apples and four oranges.
How can the total amount of fruit be distributed between the two Directors so
that A has four times as many apples as B, but B has seven times as many
oranges as A?"
On a piece of scratch paper,
Beaker wrote:
Apples: A + B = 10
A = 4B
4B + B = 10
5B = 10
B = 2 A = 8
Oranges: A + B = 16
B = 7A
A + 7A = 16
8A = 16
A = 2
B = 14
He then programmed a simple
addition problem into the desk computer, obtained the solution, and erased the
answers from the memory unit, thus establishing a finite calculation time for
the problem.
Now he entered the problem
answers, slightly altered.
A:APPLES = 8.001
B:APPLES = 1.999
A:ORANGES = 2.001
B:ORANGES = 13.999
The deviation from the actual
answer was always multiplied by 1,000 to obtain a DFT value. Thus, Beaker knew
that his average for the problem would be 1.0, an excellent score considering
the machine calculation time would be only a few milliseconds.
His score came back on the desk
screen.
PROBLEM 50-CONSOLE 27-BEAKER
AVERAGE DFT: 1.0
MCT: 0.002
PROBLEM SCORE: 1.002
The boy smiled and slipped the
scratch paper under his shirt. He stood up and walked to the monitor's desk.
"Finished?" The monitor
appeared surprised.
"Yes, I am," said
Beaker.
"Couldn't do 'em all, eh?
Well, you're not the only one. Three others have given up, too."
Beaker started to say something,
then thought better. He stared at the floor and tried to look discouraged.
"Sign out here," said
the monitor. "You'll know tomorrow where you standnot very well, I
suspect."
Beaker signed out and left the
room. Surprised, Granadi watched the other half of Second School 572's math
team walk out. He sighed and assumed the full burden of his school's academic prestige.
He was on the twenty-seventh problem. Forty other students huddled over their
consoles, moving buttons and levers and staring intently at their screens.
Janus was happily contemplating a
remote Sierra lake on his left wall when Malan signaled. Without turning from
the display screen, he quickly located the voice key.
"Yes?"
"Miss Dandrob from Advanced
Computer Language to see you."
"Send her in," said
Janus. He was at first slightly annoyed at the interruption until he remembered
that Miss Dandrob had always commented favorably on his wall displays. He made
a few last adjustments on the color, then huddled over his desk, obviously
engrossed in some weighty academic matter.
The teacher entered and stood at
the entrance. After a few seconds, she cleared her throat.
Janus looked up. "Ah,
yesMiss Dandrob. Sit down, please. I'll be with you in just one minute."
Janus turned back to his desk as
the young woman sat. He leafed through some papers on his desk, punched a few
keys on his board, and studied the screen intently. Then, satisfied that all
was well, he turned to the teacher and beamed expansively.
"Well?"
As he had hoped, Miss Dandrob was
looking at the left wall.
"That's really beautiful,
sir," she said.
"Yes," agreed Janus,
"one of my favorite places. It's called Highland Lake."
"Have you ever been
there?" she asked.
"Good Heavens, no," said
Janus. "Where would I find time to do anything like that?"
"I don't knowI just
thought"
"No, my dear, I would like to
go there some day. But a director's job is very demanding. And besides, it's
above seven thousand feet elevation, you know. I don't believe my doctor would
allow it anyway. But I'm sure you didn't come here just to comment on my wall
screen, did you, Miss Dandrob?"
"Oh no, sir! It's about
Beaker, sir."
"Beaker? What in the devil
has that boy been up to now? Winning the contest last week hasn't gone to his
head, has it?"
"No, sir. Nothing like that.
It's just that he's doing, ahdifferent things in the class. Different than the
other students, I mean."
"Like what?" Janus
appeared amused.
"Well, as you know, in
Advanced Computer Language we start off by first teaching the student English
and how to write simple sentences, even though he'll never have an occasion to
do this later on."
"Yes, yesI know," said
Janus. "Before writing a sentence or program statement in computer
language, he first must be able to write in English. A rather useless
requirement, in my opinion."
"I agree, sir," said
Miss Dan drob. "But, nevertheless, District requires it. At any rate,
Beaker is writing his own sentences, all right, but he's doing it
differently."
"How's that?" asked
Janus.
"First, his sentences
actually convey some statement. It's just as if he were writing down what he
was thinking. It's very disconcerting, sir. None of the other students do it.
Then, he has the peculiar habit of making the last word of each sentence sound
alike."
"I'm afraid I don't
understand," said Janus. "Do you have an example?"
"I have some of his work.
Listen to thisI think you'll see what I mean." The teacher read from
Beaker's paper.
Each day I pray
That I
Might stay
Upon
This world
Another day.
She paused, then read on.
Thunder sounds, and the heavens
cry,
And dark gray clouds race 'cross
the sky.
"Any more?" asked Janus.
"Here's one he handed in today," said the teacher.
Why should I
Have been denied
The type of love
That satisfied?
I wish that I
Could say I tried
And failed.
"It has kind of a pleasant
sound, doesn't it?" remarked Janus.
"Yes, I suppose it
does," admitted the teacher. "But none of the other students do it.
And. I don't know how to grade him."
Janus now spoke with the hint of a
threat. "Just be sure he passesI'll leave that to you, Miss
Dandrob." Then in a lighter tone, "Say, how does this sound?" He
raised his eyes to the ceiling and concentrated.
I wish that I
Like a bird could fly.
He beamed triumphantly at Miss
Dandrob. "Go on, try one,it's fun!" Obediently, the teacher closed
her eyes.
I am the teacher
Of a boy named Beaker.
"I don't think that's
right," said Janus. "If his name were Beacher, then it would be
correct."
"How about this one,
then?" said Miss Dandrob. "It's also a programming statement."
For N replaced by one,
Step one until done.
"Excellent!" Janus
chuckled appreciatively. Miss Dandrob giggled.
In the outer office, Malan snorted
and closed the voice monitor key.
Old goat! she thought. He's
twice her agein there acting like a couple of imbecilic kids!
The secretary swung around to her
own keyboard and continued forming the electro-letter. In a few minutes she was
humming softly.
I think I better
Form a letter
Else my boss
Will be so cross.
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