Hi Stephen, >First of all, Alex is still in school. She's not going to have a lot of >real world experience -- cut her some slack!
Ahhh, I've been following the strip. She has several patents, founded a startup, and is being courted by several foreign companies for product development work. (grin) She ought to know better. >Second, she's talking to a college prof, in an accademic environment, >and this really is a pretty standard puzzle, used to elucidate various >circuit models. So, of course he's heard of it and knows the "correct" >"theoretical" answer. Yeah, as you put the problem, it has educational value in terms of circuit theory. Great for multiple choice questions, but the poor kid gets stumped when a real live power supply is needed. >'Course it was that same engineer who fixed the power supplies on some >set of IMPs so the machines would work in Europe. When asked how to >tell if a particular IMP had the fix, he said, "Just listen to it when >you turn it on. If it doesn't go 'thwong' it's fine." Definitely sounds like my kinda guy. Of course, it's just a comic. K.
