I stopped believing in wise old men quite a while ago when I found that in some classes taught by long time professors I had to make deliberate errors in my exams to get a passing grade. And I was not the only one, the whole class did it and knew it. We tried to explain it to the professor but his only reply was :"Why do you as a young student think that your answer is better than mine, being an professor in this field for many years now". As if the universe and law of physics (aged 5 biljoen years) give a damn about some misguided professor who was able to reach the age of 55.

The 5 of us got sick of this self glorifying answer tactic and left it at that. The next exam we ignored all constants like 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, ... and so on and wrote down answers that were always a factor 2, 3, 4, 5, .... wrong and we passed the test. I must say a really saddening experience.

In hinsight this was one of the most instructive episodes of my university years. Now I look only at the math and derivations made by people and never to the age or the background of the person who has made them. Afterall 1 + 1 = 2 even when a 90 years old professor with 10 nobelprizes for mathematics says 1 + 1 = 3.

Wouter