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Iona Prep Physics Assignment: Mars and Nude Numbers |
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A stupid person makes mistakes, does not learn from them, and then repeats them in the future. A smart person learns from his mistakes and does not repeat them. A really smart person learns from the mistakes of others and avoids making them at all.
Idea 1: Nasa has conducted several missions to learn about Mars. One of the missions was the Mars Climate Orbiter, a $125 million craft which was lost on September 23 1999. The reason for the loss was described in a NASA article.
Idea 2: Jim Kadel has coined the term "nude numbers" for numbers which are not covered by units (such as kilograms, meters, seconds), and which would be avoided in polite company. For example, if you wrote "4.5" rather than "4.5 seconds", the "4.5" would be a "nude number".
You will write an essay to answer the following questions:
