GEB Questions

Your reading assignment for Spring Break is to finish reading the first part of Gödel, Escher, Bach (up through and including Chapter IX). The questions below might help you think about the reading. Then again, they might not. I am quite certain, however, that they will not help you prepare for the quiz on March 18th.

Answer all the answerable questions, but unask the unanswerable ones. This quiz will not be graded, but it won't be ungraded either. Bring your answers written out to class on Monday, 18 March.

1. Give the "correct" answer, the "more correct" answer, and the "most correct answer" to this question:

Why do programmers comment?
(a) Give compiler extra instructions
(b) Aid readability
(c) To hide code for debugging purposes
(d) (b) and (c)
(e) none of the above

a. (b), (c), and (d)
b. (b), (c), (d) and a..
c. all of the above
d. all of the above except c.
e. none of the below

2. If you knew the answer to this question, what would it be?

3. Does this question have no answer?

4. Is the next question trickier than this one?

5. Was the previous question fairer than this one?

6. If this exam were graded, would your answer to the previous question be different?

6. If this exam were graded, would your answer to the previous question be different?

6. If this exam were graded, would your answer to the previous question be different?

7. If you were Gödel, how would you answer this?

8. Richard Feynman once said "If you think you know how quantum mechanics works, you're wrong." If Feynman were a logician instead, would he have said "If you think you don't understand Gödel's Theorem, then you do." or "If you don't think you don't understand Gödel's Theorem, then you don't."?

9. If this assignment was to be graded, would your answer to this question be different?

10. Ask and answer the question should I have asked instead of this one.

University of Virginia Department of Computer Science CS 200: Computer Science

David Evans evans@virginia.edu Using these Materials