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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Timo: [QB] Alright, checked it a day late. The question is heard in its entirety, and goes something like this (I wrote it down and then carefully stored the note in a garbage bin somewhere): "Calculate the intermix ratio for a Galaxy class starship with both its matter and antimatter tanks 9/10 empty, so that it can reach a target 100 ly away at warp 8" To this, everybody except Mirren answers "1:1". Wesley then comments "Once I realized it was a trick question, it was easy", and Mordock says "There can be only one intermix ratio". The two do not extrapolate on their answers beyond that. Now, how to interpret this as not contradicting the TNG TM? Well, I'd still say there are hidden assumptions here. The trick part need not be that there can be only one intermix ratio in the universe in all conditions. Instead, the trick part could be that [i]in all cases where fuel has to be conserved[/i], one has to use the 1:1 ratio. Or then that [i]a journey of 100 ly at warp 8 implies long-term cruise mode[/i], in which one always uses the 1:1 ratio, not the other ratios which are reserved for accelerations and decelerations, start-ups and powering-downs. In other situations (like, say, a situation involving accelerations and decelerations, or calling for maximum performance instead of maximum fuel efficiency), one would have to carefully calculate the ratio using the sort of logic seen in TNG TM. But part of the question revealed that this was not one of those situations. Mirren would probably have known how to calculate the ratio (and would eventually have gotten the correct answer, or an approximation like 0.99999987954:1), but the calculations simply took her too long. The question was formulated in a way that required intuition, or the remembering of a rule-of-thumb, instead of the mechanistical following of a formulaic solution. Mordock's somewhat weird way of putting it (stating out flatly that "there can be only one ratio") could be attributed to his less than perfect command of English. We could also remember the tendency of his race to only present 100% ready solutions, never half-baked ones - thus, he would always state his answers in completely absolute terms, and never allow an "assuming that...", "in this case" or "unless..." to slip in. If there literally was only a single possible intermix ratio, then it seems unlikely the otherwise apparently supersmart Mirren would have missed the answer. Of course, it COULD be that this was a typical "boy" question: girls don't know anything about starships in the 24th century, just like they are completely ignorant of cars in the 21st, which is why Mirren had no idea of intermix ratios despite her implied brilliance in other fields. (Vulcan girls don't count as girls, for several obvious reasons...) [IMG]http://flare.solareclipse.net/wink.gif[/IMG] Timo Saloniemi [/QB][/QUOTE]
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