ACF Regionals 2013 Specific Question Discussion

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

It's legitimately interesting that the song declaims the Hartford Convention and the Federalists as well as opposing slavery. We learn that Harrison was nominated as a supposedly populist antidote to the Democrats' Jacksonian shtick; here he's not just that but also a hero of the War of 1812, not a traitor--as the Whigs probably bore the Federalist stigma.

Here is an 8 minute Whig song that details the Federalist background of many prominent Democrats of the 1830's:
http://dig.lib.niu.edu/message/songs/oldhat.html

[Cody]

I mean, that was just what came to mind because I thought the phrasing was really bizarre and I had no idea what it meant. To me, it seemed like that phrase was specifically talking about the typical iodoform reaction of methyl ketones. The alternate phrasing you're proposing seems clearer, although since there's only one aldehyde with a methyl group it seems strange to talk about "the simplest type of this compound with a methyl group." I think my hangup is that both versions of the clue seem to be talking about a class containing multiple compounds, which seems to indicate "methyl ketones." If the clue said something like, "Only one example of these non-primary alcohol compounds is polyhalogenated in a base-catalyzed reaction, giving it a positive result in the iodoform test that indicates it contains a methyl group" that seems to work better since it doesn't imply that there are multiple aldehydes with methyl groups, only one of which undergoes the iodoform reaction.

That's very fair, I can see why you'd be confused. I suppose I only considered how to emphatically exclude ketones rather than what the clue wound up saying about aldehydes.

[The Ununtiable Twine]

Is there any part in the Hecatoncheires question that deserved a prompt on Giants? I buzzed in a little after Aegaeon was mentioned thinking that you may have just wanted Giants. I figured "Hecatoncheires" is a little tough of an answerline for Regionals, so I buzzed with Giants at that point. If I was prompted, I would have certainly given Hecatoncheires as my answer.

The beginning of Book II of the Metamorphoses describes one of these figures hugging whales. Poseidon gave his daughter Cymopolea in marriage to one of these figures. Pausanias relates a story in which one of them adjudicated a dispute between Poseidon and Helios over the Isthmus of Corinth. In Book I of the Iliad, Achilles reminds Thetis of how she summoned one of these figures, who squatted beside Zeus when Athena, Poseidon, and Hera attempted to chain him down. One of them was held to be the inventor of warships under his alternate name, Aegaeon. They threw many rocks at the Titans after Zeus freed them, along with their brothers the Cyclopes, from Tartarus. For 10 points, Gyges, Cottus, and Briareus were the names of which three giants, known for their fifty heads and hundred hands?
ANSWER: Hecatonchires [or the Centimani; or the Hekatonkheires; accept the hundred-handed ones until it is read]

[The King's Flight to the Scots]

Is there any part in the Hecatoncheires question that deserved a prompt on Giants?

Nope.

[touchpack]

I'll preface this by saying I'm pretty upset about the Lysander tossup as we pretty much lost our game against Illinois because of it.

As unfortunate as it was that you were hosed by that, after doing some investigation it turns out Aaron was hosed as well in the same packet!

This function can be used to model Jeans escape. When this function is rewritten to apply to energy, the result is the product of the density of states, which is proportional to the square root of the energy, and the probably of a state being occupied, which is a quantity named for one namesake of this function. This function's maximum occurs at the square root of two R T over M, which is slightly under its average and root-mean-square. The Sackur-Tetrode equation fails at low temperatures because it assumes that this classical function holds true. This function is used when one has identical, but distinguishable particles, as opposed to identical and indistinguishable in the cases of the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac. For 10 points, name this doubly-eponymous distribution of the velocities of molecules in a gas.
A
NSWER: Maxwell-Boltzmann speed distribution [or velocity in place of speed; prompt on Maxwellian speed distribution; prompt on Boltzmann distribution; prompt on Gibbs distribution]

The bolded text applies equally to the Fermi-Dirac and Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions. The "product of density of states and probability of state occupancy" applies to any distribution function. In Fermi-Dirac statistics, the density of states is also proportional to the square root of the energy. And the Boltzmann factor is not described in a way which distinguishes it from the Fermi function.

I guess we can call it even then, right? :P

[Ringil]

I'll preface this by saying I'm pretty upset about the Lysander tossup as we pretty much lost our game against Illinois because of it.

As unfortunate as it was that you were hosed by that, after doing some investigation it turns out Aaron was hosed as well in the same packet!

This function can be used to model Jeans escape. When this function is rewritten to apply to energy, the result is the product of the density of states, which is proportional to the square root of the energy, and the probably of a state being occupied, which is a quantity named for one namesake of this function. This function's maximum occurs at the square root of two R T over M, which is slightly under its average and root-mean-square. The Sackur-Tetrode equation fails at low temperatures because it assumes that this classical function holds true. This function is used when one has identical, but distinguishable particles, as opposed to identical and indistinguishable in the cases of the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac. For 10 points, name this doubly-eponymous distribution of the velocities of molecules in a gas.
A
NSWER: Maxwell-Boltzmann speed distribution [or velocity in place of speed; prompt on Maxwellian speed distribution; prompt on Boltzmann distribution; prompt on Gibbs distribution]

The bolded text applies equally to the Fermi-Dirac and Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions. The "product of density of states and probability of state occupancy" applies to any distribution function. In Fermi-Dirac statistics, the density of states is also proportional to the square root of the energy. And the Boltzmann factor is not described in a way which distinguishes it from the Fermi function.

I guess we can call it even then, right? :P

Damn, that question also apparently sucks! The density of states being proportional to the root of energy is just wrong (it only applies in 3d, in 2d it is notably constant!) and aren't most distribution functions written in terms of energy o.o? But ya, it's unfortunate there were some... inaccurate questions in that packet....

[merv1618]

On this linear algebra bonus:

[10] While not every square matrix has enough linearly independent eigenvectors to be diagonalizable, every square matrix can be transformed into this form using similarity transformations. This form is an upper triangular matrix with repeated, grouped eigenvalues on the main diagonal.
ANSWER: _Jordan normal_ form [or _Jordan canonical_ form]

I'm curious as to why _Jordan_ form by itself wasn't acceptable. I always knew it as just Jordan form from when I took a linear course.

[Cody]

Sorry, all the books I looked at described it as the Jordan canonical form and I didn't think to search for just Jordan form, which seems to be just as correct.

[merv1618]

Also in the _Euler-Mascheroni_ constant bonus part, _Euler's_ constant could have probably been taken as well. However, my only problem with them is the answerlines--other than that the bonuses were quite well-written.

Edit--in retrospect it's a stupid distinction between that and 'e', Euler's 'number' so I suppose never mind.

[Maxwell Sniffingwell]

First of all, can we award a medal of some sort to whoever wrote the tossup on "people who have dated Taylor Swift?" Because that was awesome.

Oh MAN. Could someone post that question?

[merv1618]

First of all, can we award a medal of some sort to whoever wrote the tossup on "people who have dated Taylor Swift?" Because that was awesome.

Oh MAN. Could someone post that question?

That was Dan Donohue's work.

2. The observation of rain in the bedroom of one of these individuals indicates that “everything is wrong.” The archaic form of these figures is embodied by Brandon Borello, who had a tendency of getting his Chevy truck stuck on backroads. A man who failed to become one reportedly appeared unannounced in a driveway shortly prior to a Predators game. A controversial phone call from one of them resulted in a warning being issued to Camilla Belle, while another is described with the image of “driving a new Ferrari down a dead and street.” At the Golden Globes, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler expressed their fear that Michael J. Fox’s son would become one of these figures, one of whom brought roses that were “[left] there to die” during the titular month. These subjects of “Should've Said No,” “Back to December,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble” include Joe Jonas, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Mayer, Connor Kennedy, Taylor Lautner, and most recently Harry Styles. For 10 points, identify these individuals whose poor judgment has ensured them a lifetime of musical scorn from a certain blonde singer.
ANSWER: ex-_boyfriends_ of Taylor _Swift_ [accept equivalents; accept things like “people Taylor Swift has written songs about,” which is a nearly coterminous group]

[Maxwell Sniffingwell]

Gotta point it out, then - it's a Maserati, not a Ferrari.