I was setting up for the NABs in the library [an acronym that long-ago lost its meaning, basically an exam-lite]. There were to be thirty-five desks in a space where twenty-five was stretching it. Mere R-three isn't important when management-plucking figures from the air.
The head of computing was fiddling with computers, the librarian was tutting about the stupidity of it all.
"Thirty-five is a magic number", I explained to blank looks all round. I expected better of June.
"You've seen them, the kids will have done it. We have a card playing thingee, say, so naturally we store 52, as a double at the highest possible scope and, just to make things worse, we declare it as a constant. Now you, having had the bad judgement to set the question, have a passing chance at knowing what 52 means. For me it might well be the expansion co-efficient of the observable universe..."
"I have no idea what any of that means", said the librarian.
"The sad thing is that I know just what he means", said June.
I set up twenty-five desks, which seemed to suffice.
magic numbers
I was setting up for the NABs in the library [an acronym that long-ago lost its meaning, basically an exam-lite]. There were to be thirty-five desks in a space where twenty-five was stretching it. Mere R-three isn't important when management-plucking figures from the air.
The head of computing was fiddling with computers, the librarian was tutting about the stupidity of it all.
"Thirty-five is a magic number", I explained to blank looks all round. I expected better of June.
"You've seen them, the kids will have done it. We have a card playing thingee, say, so naturally we store 52, as a double at the highest possible scope and, just to make things worse, we declare it as a constant. Now you, having had the bad judgement to set the question, have a passing chance at knowing what 52 means. For me it might well be the expansion co-efficient of the observable universe..."
"I have no idea what any of that means", said the librarian.
"The sad thing is that I know just what he means", said June.
I set up twenty-five desks, which seemed to suffice.