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February 10, 2005

Subway Manifolds

Tokyo, Japan - International Mathematical Olympiad

The Japanese subway system gave us hell. The tickets were bought on-site with a pre-marked destination, thus they were required for both entry and exit (the greater the distance, the more you pay). They passed through the machines at an alarmingly fast rate and came out the other side while we walked through. We never looked at which way we put the ticket in, but since it worked, the machines must have had to flip the ticket as well.

One time when we were exiting the subway, the machine crashed on Janos. It made a few loud noises (besides the alarm) and steam came out. Two guards came over took a look. You can’t believe what happened: Janos folded the ticket. I mean come on, folding a ticket!?

Posted by Oleg Ivrii at February 10, 2005 06:06 PM

Wow, so fault intolerant. I wonder whether that has happened before, or was Janos the first person dumb enough to fold his ticket?

Posted by: Tout at February 10, 2005 06:19 PM

You would think that an IMOer would be clever enough not to fold the ticket. But everyone does stupid things. I wonder if Janos folds his scantron cards :)

Posted by: aSo at February 10, 2005 06:52 PM

Haha, yes Adrian, luckily the IMO isn't multiple choice.

Posted by: Tout at February 10, 2005 07:30 PM

Actually, last year I bubbled my first physics test in pen. The difference between most people and Janos is that Janos does stupid things all the time.

Posted by: Oleg Ivrii at February 10, 2005 07:36 PM