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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology founded?
(a) 1861.
(b) 1877.
(c) 1823.
(d) 1895.

2. What refers to a supercomputer manufacturer based in Seattle, Washington, and founded in 1972?
(a) Bend.
(b) Ting.
(c) Cray.
(d) More.

3. Who is attributed with the following quote in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature": "And yet relation appears, a small relation expanding like the shade of a cloud on sand, a shape on the side of the hill"?
(a) James Yorke.
(b) Wallace Stevens.
(c) Enrico Fermi.
(d) Robert May.

4. 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) Paleontologists.
(b) Ecologists.
(c) Botanists.
(d) Geologists.

5. 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) Science of commonality.
(b) Normal science.
(c) Bland science.
(d) Psuedoscience.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy?

2. Where was Robert May born?

3. Where is the National Weather Service headquartered?

4. What work by Edward Lorenz greatly impacted the thinking of James Yorke, as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?

5. When was Robert May born?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Benoit Mandelbrot describe the ideal data source in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"?

2. How did the role of chaos theory affect ecologists in the 1970s as described in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?

3. What variable changed the outcome in the experiment described by Thomas S. Kuhn in Chapter 2, "Revolution"?

4. How did Lorenz develop ways to reproduce complex behavior in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"?

5. What led to Benoit Mandelbrot's epiphany in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"? Where was Benoit Mandelbrot working at the time?

6. In Chapter 2, "Revolution" Gleick refers to the pendulum as being the laboratory mouse of chaos, the new science. What metaphorical examples does Gleick give for other great scientists in this chapter?

7. What did Benoit Mandelbrot and Hendrik Houthakker agree on about the chart in Chapter 4, "A Geometry of Nature"?

8. Who is quoted discussing nonlinear problems in Chapter 3, "Life's Ups and Downs"?

9. How is Edward Lorenz described in Chapter 1, "The Butterfly Effect"? Where was he working at the time?

10. What impact did The Structure of Scientific Revolutions have on the scientific community? What did Kuhn assert in the book?

(see the answer keys)

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