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Orly Borges Personal Collection |
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Two
mathematicians were having dinner in a restaurant,
arguing about the average mathematical knowledge
of the American public. One mathematician
claimed that this average was
woefully inadequate; the other maintained that it
was surprisingly high.
"I'll tell you what," said the
cynic, "ask that waitress a simple math question.
If she gets it right, I'll
pick up dinner. If not, you do." He then excused
himself to visit the
men's room, and the other called the waitress
over.
"When my friend comes back," he told her, "I'm going to
ask you a question, and I want you to respond "one
third x cubed". There's twenty
bucks in it for you." She
agreed.
The cynic returned from the bathroom and called the
waitress over. "The food was wonderful, thank you," the
mathematician started. "Incidentally,
do you know what the
integral of x squared is?"
The waitress looked pensive; almost pained. She looked
around the room, at her feet, made
gurgling noises, and finally said, "Um, one third
x cubed?"
So the cynic paid the check. The waitress
wheeled around, walked a few paces away, looked
back at the two men, and
muttered under her breath, "... plus a
constant."
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Source:
Contributed by Roberto Fernández Acevedo |
GLOSSARY |
arguing:
debating, presenting reasons and arguments (discutiendo)
claimed: asserted, stated affirmatively (afirmaba)
woefully: in an unfortunate or deplorable manner (deplorablemente)
cynic: faultfinder, someone who is critical of the
motives of others (cínico)
pick up dinner: (in this context) buy casually or
spontaneously our dinner (me hago cargo de la cena)
men's room: a public restroom for men (baño para
caballeros)
bucks: (slang) dollars (dólares)
agreed: consented, accepted (aceptó) |
incidentally:
by the way (a propósito)
integral: (maths) the result of a mathematical integration
(integral matemática)
gurgling: drinking with a sound as of water (sonidos de
gárgaras)
wheeled around: moved around (se movilizó por el bar)
muttered: murmured, talked in a low voice (murmuró, dijo en
voz baja)
constant: (maths) a number representing a quantity assumed to
have a fixed value in a specified mathematical context (constante
matemática) |
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