View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere?
(a) Physiology.
(b) Fractal compression.
(c) Thermodynamics.
(d) Meteorology.

2. When was James Yorke born?
(a) 1941.
(b) 1932.
(c) 1937.
(d) 1949.

3. What is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services?
(a) Physiology.
(b) Information theory.
(c) Chaos theory.
(d) Economics.

4. What was the profession of Benoit Mandelbrot's mother?
(a) Dentist.
(b) Housekeeper.
(c) Writer.
(d) Nurse.

5. In what year did Benoit Mandelbrot recognize the ghost of an idea when he spotted a diagram charted out on the blackboard in Hendrik Houthakker's office?
(a) 1957.
(b) 1950.
(c) 1960.
(d) 1954.

6. In Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs," Gleick writes, "In the emergence of chaos as a new science in the 1970s, _____ were destined to play a special role."
(a) Geologists.
(b) Ecologists.
(c) Paleontologists.
(d) Botanists.

7. What does Gleick assert was the inspiration for Archimedes in Chapter 2, "Revolution"?
(a) A snail.
(b) A bathtub.
(c) A tree.
(d) A boulder.

8. What is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena?
(a) Theoretical physics.
(b) Fluid dynamics.
(c) Bifurcation theory.
(d) Thermodynamics.

9. According to Gleick in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs," what will lead to an increased, steady state in the idealized population?
(a) A higher parameter.
(b) A fraction parameter.
(c) A multiplier parameter.
(d) A lower parameter.

10. Where is the National Weather Service headquartered?
(a) Huntsville, Alabama.
(b) Hot Springs, Arkansas.
(c) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
(d) Silver Spring, Maryland.

11. What concept originated by Thomas S. Kuhn refers to the routine work of scientists experimenting within a paradigm, slowly accumulating detail in accord with established broad theory and not actually challenging or attempting to test the underlying assumptions of that theory?
(a) Bland science.
(b) Psuedoscience.
(c) Science of commonality.
(d) Normal science.

12. Who is attributed with the following quote in the beginning of Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs": "The result of a mathematical development should be continuously checked against one's own intuition about what constitutes reasonable biological behavior"?
(a) Stanislaw Ulam.
(b) Steven Smale.
(c) Benoit Mandelbrot.
(d) Harvey J. Gold.

13. In Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature," Houthakker explained to Mandelbrot the diagram in his office represented eight years of what?
(a) Cotton prices.
(b) Wheat prices.
(c) Almond prices.
(d) Corn prices.

14. When was Steven Smale born?
(a) 1930.
(b) 1938.
(c) 1943.
(d) 1932.

15. According to Gleick in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs," what will cause the idealized population to end up at the lower level?
(a) A higher parameter.
(b) A fraction parameter.
(c) A multiplier parameter.
(d) A lower parameter.

Short Answer Questions

1. When was Thomas S. Kuhn born?

2. What is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language?

3. Where is Stephen Smale from?

4. In Chapter 2, "Revolution," the author writes, "Professional scientists, given brief, uncertain glimpses of nature's workings, are no less vulnerable to anguish and confusion when they come face to face with" _______________?

5. What is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 471 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample