[Oberon] System-7 - Math popular consts

[Liam Proven]

On Thu, 28 Feb 2019 at 19:43, Tomas Kral <thomas.kral at email.cz> wrote:
>
> Something between 2 and 3 is sort of right, how very interesting, that
> reminds of chaos theory I never understood :-)

If I may be forgiven for a joke...

«
The executive search committee had narrowed down the candidates for
the company’s next president to four people.  The final four:  a high
school algebra teacher, an attorney, an engineer, and a Certified
Public Accountant.

The subcommittee had one final question to distinguish between the
four. With everyone gathered together, they asked “What is 2 and 2?”

The engineer pulled out her smart phone and started tapping rapidly.

The algebra teacher immediately raised his hand and after a nod from
the committee chair boldly said “Four.”

When asked for her thoughts, the attorney said “There is ambiguity in
the question. If we infer this is intended to be a mathematical
operation, then the next step is the addition process of two plus two,
which we can stipulate equals four. In the alternative, if we infer
this is a linear operation, then one would place the numeral 2
immediately after another numeral 2, which give an answer of 22.
Absent clarification from you and further research on my part, I am
unable to give a definitive opinion.”

The committee chair thanked the attorney for her response, then asked
the engineer for her idea. The engineer said “After performing
research of the relevant literature and developing several
spreadsheets, I have definitively concluded the answer is 4.  If I may
have your e-mail address, I will forward you my research and the draft
of a paper I plan to submit to my industry’s leading trade journal.”

The chair provided an e-mail address to use, then pointed to the CPA
inviting his thoughts.

The CPA, an experienced auditor who had recently retired from one of
the big accounting firms, smiled politely and said “What number did
you have in mind?”
»


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