Like the other men that had spoken before him, Swift reveals that he never trusted what Multivac was telling him to do. Multivac would tell Swift to fight here or there or even to wait, but Swift admitted that he just wasn't sure what to trust.
But I could never be certain that what Multivac seemed to say, it really did say; or what it really said, it really meant. I could never be certain.
Additionally, Swift knows that Multivac is a machine and isn't capable of bearing any kind of emotional weight that comes with hard decisions. Regardless of what Multivac orders, Swift is the one issuing that final order, so those decisions really affect him.
The horror of the responsibility of such decisions was unbearable and not even Multivac was sufficient to remove the weight.
He is very pleased to realize that the other two men also found problems with Multivac and frequently acted on their own intuition. Swift admits that he did the same as well. He also admits that he used a very old computing device to help him make the decisions involving one thing or another. Swift's "computer" is a coin. He would simply flip a coin to choose between two impossible choices.
With a faint smile of reminiscence, he flipped the coin he held. It glinted in the air as it spun and came down in Swift's outstretched palm. His hand closed over it and brought it down on the back of his left hand. His right hand remained in place, hiding the coin.
"Heads or tails, gentlemen?" said Swift.
Monday, December 1, 2014
What is the primitive computing device that Swift uses?
Kafka developed what 3 characteristics because his father was so hard on him?
In 1919, Franz Kafka wrote a forty-seven page letter to his father, Hermann. The letter is a rich primary source of information about their relationship and the kind of man that Franz Kafka became. A translation of the letter was published posthumously in 1966.
Their relationship was difficult, to say the least. Hermann Kafka felt that he had struggled and sacrificed his whole life for his only surviving son, Franz. Consequently, he had explicit expectations and standards for his son, including the woman he would marry and how he would make his living.
The first characteristic that Franz Kafka could be said to possess was honesty. In his letter to his father, Kafka confesses that he is, and always has been, afraid of him. It is not easy to own and articulate our fears, particularly to the source of them. The fact that Kafka was able to do so is remarkable.
Another characteristic Kafka could be said to have developed in reaction to his father's emotional abuse is, perhaps counterintuitively, compassion. It would be understandable if Kafka entertained feelings of hatred toward his father, but even in their years of estrangement, Kafka felt compassion for his father; we know this from the letter where he says, "You are, after all, at bottom a kindly and softhearted person." Kafka is somehow able to identify a good quality in his father.
A third characteristic that Kafka developed was resilience. His father made it very clear that he disapproved of his son's career aspirations. Instead of surrendering to his father's wish for another career (law), Kafka endured the withering disapproval of his father and carried on with what he wanted to do: write.
Name two illness that Helen was facing.
When Helen became sick at the age of 19 months, her doctor diagnosed her illness as "acute congestion of the stomach and the brain," or "brain fever" as it was commonly known. However, most doctors today believe that Helen was struck down with either scarlet fever or meningitis. Another possibility is that Helen was infected with a virulent strain of rubella, an epidemic of which was spreading like wildfire in Alabama at the time of Helen's birth. Pediatric medicine wasn't as advanced in those days, and many of the various ailments that afflicted childhood then are easily treatable today. What were deadly illnesses in the late 19th century can now be treated with antibiotics, which weren't available when Helen was a child.
Who is Goodwife Cruff in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
Goodwife Cruff is a significant character because she leads the accusations against Kit. Goodwife Cruff first claims Kit must be a witch when Kit jumps into the water to retrieve Prudence's dropped doll: "no respectable woman could keep afloat in the water."
Kit jumps in the water because she sees how upset Prudence is. Goodwife Cruff is not as caring, even though Prudence is her own daughter. Instead of being thankful, she has it out for Kit. She also believes the becalmed ship is because of Kit.
Goodwife Cruff is very unfriendly. She is even mean to her own family, as she believes her daughter Prudence is too stupid to learn how to read or write. Kit thinks Goodwife Cruff is too strict with her children and too controlling of her husband.
Goodwife Cruff continues to believe Kit is a witch. She says Kit helped Hannah escape and brings the hornbook out as evidence against Kit.
Goodwife Cruff is cruel and bitter.
Goodwife Cruff is a woman who lives in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Kit first meets Goodwife Cruff, along with her husband and daughter, on the ship from Saybrook to Wethersfield. Goodwife Cruff is a cold, impatient, and opinionated woman. She is serious, and Kit describes her as having a "hard thin mouth" (Chapter 11).
Kit describes Goodman Cruff as Goodwife Cruff's "cowed shadow of a husband," and Prudence as a "miserable little wraith of a child" (Chapter 2). Goodwife Cruff does not hide that she dislikes Kit. Kit later sees her gossiping in town with several other ladies.
Goodwife Cruff refuses to let Prudence go to the dame school like other children. Goodman Cruff wants Prudence to go, but his wife says Prudence is stupid. Later, Goodwife Cruff is one of Kit's accusers. She also points out that Nat is in the town even though he has been banished.
What does an irrational number mean?
An irrational number is a (real) number which is not rational, this is the definition. A rational number, by the definition, may be expressed as m/n, where m is an integer and n is a natural number. Hence an irrational number may not be expressed this way.
Some irrational numbers occur naturally from Pythagorean theorem, for example if a right triangle has both legs of length 1, then the length of its hypotenuse is sqrt(2), an irrational number (ask me for proof if needed).
Written in decimal form, an irrational number has infinitely many digits after the decimal dot, and there is no period in them. This is also in contrast with rational numbers.
From the set theory point of view, there are much more irrational numbers than rational: the set of rational numbers is countable and the set of irrational numbers has the cardinality of continuum.
Despite of this, there are enough rational numbers to approximate any irrational number with any accuracy. In other words, the set of rational numbers is dense everywhere in the set of real numbers.
When was Moon Lake by Eudora Welty written?
Eudora Welty was born on April 13, 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. Her mother was a schoolteacher who instilled in Welty a love of reading. Welty's father was an insurance executive. The Welty family thus belonged to the upper middle classes. After finishing high school in 1925, Welty attended Mississippi State College for Women, then graduated with a degree in English from the University of Wisconsin. She spent most of her adult life in her home town of Jackson and her writing is mainly set in the Mississippi Delta and based on her own experiences and observations of that region, albeit with an admixture of mythology. She began publishing short stories in literary magazines and commercial magazines such as the New Yorker that catered to educated audiences.
Her short story "Moon Lake" was initially published in the Summer 1949 issue of the distinguished souther literary magazine The Sewanee Review (Volume 57, No. 3, pages 464-508). It also appeared in Welty's 1949 short story collection The Golden Apples, a collection consisting of seven stories set in Morgana, Mississippi. The story was probably written in 1947 or 1948.
Intermediate Algebra, Chapter 4, 4.2, Section 4.2, Problem 44
Solve each system $
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
3x + y - z + 2w =& 9 \\
x + y + 2z - w =& 10 \\
x - y - z + 3w =& -2 \\
-x + y - z + w =& -6
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$ by expressing the solution in the form $(x,y,z,w)$.
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
3x + y - z + 2w =& 9
&& \text{Equation 1}
\\
2x + 2y + 4z - 2w =& 20
&& 2 \times \text{ Equation 2}
\\
\hline
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
5x + 3y + 3z \phantom{-2w} =& 29
&& \text{Add; New equation 2}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
-9x - 3y + 3z - 6w =& -27
&& -3 \times \text{ Equation 1}
\\
2x - 2y - 2z+ 6w =& -4
&& 2 \times \text{ Equation 3}
\\
\hline
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
-7x - 5y + z \phantom{+6w} =& -31
&& \text{Add; New equation 3}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
3x + y - z + 2w =& 9
&& \text{Equation 1}
\\
2x -2y + 2z - 2w =& 12
&& -2 \times \text{ Equation 4}
\\
\hline
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
5x - y + z \phantom{-2w} =& 21
&& \text{Add; New Equation 4}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
5x + 3y + 3z =& 29
&& \text{Equation 2}
\\
21x + 15y - 3z =& 93
&& -3 \times \text{ Equation 3}
\\
\hline
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
26x + 18y \phantom{-3z} =& 122
&& \text{Add; New Equation 3}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
5x + 3y + 3z =& 29
&& \text{Equation 2}
\\
-15x + 3y - 3z =& -63
&& -3 \times \text{ Equation 4}
\\
\hline
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
-10x + 6y \phantom{-3z} =& -34
&& \text{Add; New Equation 4}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
26x + 18y =& 122
&& \text{Equation 3}
\\
30x - 18y =& 102
&& -3 \times \text{Equation 4}
\\
\hline
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
56x \phantom{-18y} =& 224
&& \text{Add}
\\
x =& 4
&& \text{Divide each side by $56$}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
-10(4) + 6y =& -34
&& \text{Substitute } x = 4 \text{ in New Equation 4}
\\
-40 + 6y =& -34
&& \text{Multiply}
\\
6y =& 6
&& \text{Add each side by $40$}
\\
y =& 1
&&
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
5(4) - 1 + z =& 21
&& \text{Substitute } x = 4 \text{ and } y = 1
\\
20 - 1 + z =& 21
&& \text{Multiply}
\\
19 + z =& 21
&& \text{Combine like terms}
\\
z =& 2
&& \text{Subtract each side by $19$}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
3(4) + 1 - 2 + 2w =& 9
&& \text{Substitute } x = 4, y = 1 \text{ and } z = 2 \text{ in Equation 1}
\\
12 + 1 - 2 + 2w =& 9
&& \text{Multiply}
\\
11 + 2w =& 9
&& \text{Combine like terms}
\\
2w =& -2
&& \text{Subtract each side by $11$}
\\
w =& -1
&& \text{Divide each side by $2$}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$
The solution set is $\displaystyle \left \{ (4,1,2,-1) \right \}$.