By David Somers  ’87

CHALLENGE:

Solve for Φ by pluggling in your answers to the trivia questions below.

a = Year Harvey Seeley Mudd was born

b = Year that HMC opened its doors to students

c = Year that the Nobel Prize was awarded to the “hero” of Joe Platt’s famous campfire song, “It Ain’t the Money”

d = Year HMC stole the Caltech Cannon

f = Student body fee (in dollars) for 2005–06

g = Length in feet of the HMC Shields sloop “Mildred”

h = Current fee charged for each official HMC transcript

j = Length (in feet) of a relativistic rhino, in the stationary frame of a frosh, if the rhino’s rest-length is 10 feet and it is charging past the frosh at 4/5c

k = # of alumni known to have won an Academy Award

l = Current edition of “Life: The Science of Biology” by Purves, Sadava, Orians and Heller

m=  # of years Henry T. Mudd served as chair of the HMC Board of Trustees

n = # of years Jon Strauss will have served as president of HMC

o = College’s main street number on Platt Blvd

p = The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything (in appropriate units)

q = Legal room capacity of Galileo Hall (all sections)

r = # of warts on F.W. Olin Science building

s = HMC record # of blackboards filled by Prof. Sly in a single lecture (source: Gerald Van Hecke)

t = # of questions on Van Hecke’s P-chem final exam (post 1972)

u = Average starting salary (in dollars) of a 2005 graduate (to 3 sig figs.)

v = Number of ASHMC presidents (including co-presidents) or course # of Introduction to Biology

w = # of students in HMC’s first graduating class

y = # of organizations participating in the 2004-05 Clinic Program

z = # of math professors at HMC when the college opened

α = Cost (in dollars) of tuition in 1957

β = Model # of the first VAX computer available for general use at HMC

γ = Birthday Joseph Platt celebrated in 2005

δ = # of students in first four-year class

ε = Percentage of 2005 graduates going on to graduate school (2005 HMC Annual Report)

ζ = # of wheels on the Gonzo mode of Mudder transportation used for the annual Foster’s Run

η = Minimum number of course credit hours required to earn a bachelor of science degree at HMC

θ = # of faculty when college opened

κ = # of items Harvey Mudd is juggling in the Galileo Hall portrait

λ = # of years that Al is older than Bertha at the end of the following scenario: Al and Bertha are identical twins. Al stays home, and Bertha travels to Alpha Centauri (4 light years away from Earth) at 4/5 c, and immediately turns around and returns to Earth at the same speed

μ = Current # of HMC residence halls