The Longest Of Them All

If you're wondering what the longest of them all refer too, simply read on. But, it's not the length of this blog, since I have no idea how long this post is going to be =) Just a note, (words in green brackets do not belong to any thoughts pertaining to any dialog or re-iteration of that past). No idea what I'm talking about? Simply read on... =)

[About two years ago... (and of course, it's not about the longest length of time since/from two years ago, as you would discover soon)]

Someone-whom-I-can't-remember (SWICR): Hey, I head that aer*space engineering has the longest equations around leh.

Glass Cookie (GC) (seemingly not too bothered, cause he simply cannot be bothered - not because he thinks it's trivial): Huh? Is it?

SWICR: Ya, I heard it from my mechanical engineering seniors (who happened to take aer*space as a specialisation - ie. it's not the full aer*space course)

GC: Oh, ok lor.

GC's thoughts: Longest? Well, even if it is, so? It's not like I could change anything.

[About a few minutes ago...]

GC (verbally - note: This is not a thought): ARRRRGH!!! (well, as mentioned earlier on, the longest of them all referred to aer*space engineering equations, so it's definitely not the length of this "ARRRGH!!!". In fact, it pales in comparison to those equations) I had enough... 我不行了!!!! ARRRGH!!!

GC's thoughts: volume of "ARRRGH!!!" in decibels x 1000 is but an understatement (or maybe an under-volume) of this kind of crap...

GC (verbally again): ARRRRGH!!! What the [beep (ie. censored - nah, I didn't use any vulgarities if you're wondering. It's a literal beep which meant: {ie. censored - nah, I didn't use any vulgarities if you're wondering. It's a literal beep which meant: [ie. censored - nah, I didn't use any vulgarities if you're wondering. It's a literal beep which meant... (Ok, I shall stop going in an infinite loop. See, it's hard to preserve my sanity even as I'm taking a break)]}) ]!!! ARRRGH!!! [beep] [beep] [beep] [beep] [beep] [beeeeeeeeep]!!!

Well, well, if you're still wondering what I'm ARRRGH!!!-ing about, it's simply this: I have a set of CA questions worth 10% of the final examination grade and it's taking the life out of me.

I mean, consider this puny little question which is but one (erm, guess that's obvious enough since it's a little puny question) out of 18:

The question was to find the drag coefficient of this particular airfoil at an angle of attack of 5 degrees, at a speed of Mach 30 (ie. 30 times the speed of sound).

As year 3 aer*space engineering students know, the equation to get the drag coefficient is merely/simply:

Drag coefficient, Cd = ∫ (Cp,front - Cp,back) (dz/dx) dx, from x = 0 to 1.

Well, two pressure coefficient variables and differentiating the simple zu(x) equation above and integrate everything. How hard could it possibly get? And so, given such a simple equation, I started solving... and solving... and solving... and solving...
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and solving and solving and solving and solving...
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and solving and solving and solving and solving...
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until I got this particular part which still requires solving...

Cd = ∫ -0.38cos(0.97454 - 4x) + 0.38 - 1.9x dx0→0.2 + [ 1.9xsin(0.97454 - 4x) / -4 - ∫ 1.9sin(0.97454-4x) / -4 dx ]0→0.2 + ∫ -0.02375cos(0.22454-0.25x) + 0.02375 - 0.11875x dx0.2→0.89816 + [ 0.11875xsin(0.22454 - 0.25x) / -0.25 - ∫ 0.11875xsin(0.22454 - 0.25x) / 0.25² dx ]0.2→0.89816

Note: All the letter x used indicates a variable, not a multiplication sign.

And well, to get to that stage took me more than an hour. And well, the solution is wrong when I finally completed it. As such, you see... it's not that difficult to lose one's sanity in aer*space engineering, isn't it? In fact, the challenge is in keeping it. Oh, did I forget to mention that the question that comes right after this is of a longer nature? But for those that are concerned about me, nah, don't worry. I mean, there are merely about 3 more of such longer questions, that all.

Hmmm, come to think about it, I remember blogging about sanity being a precious commodity. Looking back, I think I had ten times as much sanity as I have now, I think. And as such, sanity has become a precious rarity. Hmmm, I think I'm going nuts. But then again, if I could think properly and evalulate that I'm going nuts, am I truly going nuts? Yet again, I could be nuts and thinking that I'm not really nuts and may be going nuts, and as such, I would seemingly be appearing sane when nuts is what I am becoming. But yet again, if I could tell that I may be going nuts, yet having the appearance of sanity when I'm going nuts and hence misleading people into thinking that I might not be nuts by thinking that I'm nuts when I'm really nuts but rationalizing that I'm not really nuts and yet contradicting myself that being nuts and seemingly admitting that I'm nuts would indicate that I'm not nuts when I'm potentially nuts and somehow getting confused and all, that would be reaaaally be complicating. And as such, I'd better stop my nonsense here as you may agree. Oops, I guess I might well have driven some readers nuts if they're attempting to absorb all that I'm typing here. Well, if the reader is going nuts as a result of this blog entry, welcome to the world of engineering! =) That kind of feeling is but the beginning in my craaazy world.

OK, I think I'd better end here since rambling on after losing some more sanity to some crappy CA may cause me to churn up more crazy thoughts.

Thought: If that lecturer insists on keeping that 3/10% of my grades, so be it. She can have it all. I give up... ARRRRGH!!! What the [beep] [beep] [beeeeep]... etc.