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UPenn Professor Solving DiffEQ on Scratchpad Causes Plane to Return to Gate

posted by cmn32480 on Sunday May 08 2016, @11:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-can't-solve-DiffEq-with-a-computer dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

This just in from the front lines of the War on the Unusual:

University of Pennsylvania economics professor Guido Menzio was solving a set of differential equations on a plane departing the Philadelphia airport when the woman next to him surreptitiously passed a note to a flight attendant telling them she thought he was a terrorist because of the strange things he was writing on a pad of paper. The plane returned to the gate where he was questioned. At least this time the pilot had enough sense not to kick him off the flight.

Remember folks, if you see something say something!

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2016, @04:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2016, @04:46AM (#343432)

    No, you are either a moron or haven't taken diff-eq. Diff eq basically lists classes of diff eqs for which known recipes can apply. If you actually went past freshmen year and you still haven't figured this out, you should ask for your money back from your lousy excuse of school.

  • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday May 09 2016, @06:16AM

    by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday May 09 2016, @06:16AM (#343467)

    Diff eq basically lists classes of diff eqs for which known recipes can apply.

    That "teaching" technique is used, but only in nonmathematics classes.

    --
    It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.

  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday May 09 2016, @01:08PM

    by Immerman (3985) on Monday May 09 2016, @01:08PM (#343581)

    I have a math degree, of course I took DiffEq. And yes, I remember well the massive appendices full of equivalencies and solved forms. But if that's all you got out of the class, then it was a waste of your time - those were just the "cheat sheets" to save you untold hours of tedious grinding.