Packet 8: Bonus 21
This physicist used the MANIAC computer to program one of the first numerical simulations, where she showed a vibrating string with a nonlinear force law behaves quasi-periodically. For 10 points each:
[10h] What physicist was credited in a footnote, but not listed as an author, on Fermi, Pasta, and Ulam’s paper describing that vibrating string?
ANSWER: Mary Tsingou [or Mary Tsingou Menzel]
[10m] Tsingou’s result surprisingly disobeyed this statement, according to which all of a system’s microstates will be accessed with equal probability over a long period of time.
ANSWER: ergodic hypothesis
[10e] The FPUT problem was a foundational result in the theory of systems with this property. The behavior of nonlinear systems with this property strongly depends on their initial conditions.
ANSWER: chaos [or word forms like chaotic; accept chaos theory]
<FW, Physics> | NAFTA-Packet-8
| Heard | PPB | E % | M % | H % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 20.00 | 100% | 78% | 22% |
Conversion
| Team | Opponent | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Total | Parts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ana Pauker? I hardly know her! | The Umayyad Caliphate be like REPEAL NAPHTHA | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | HME |
| Licence to Bill | Licence to C. Wright Mill | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | E |
| Not Old! (Old) | Team 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | HME |
| Stanford A | Constans Constantius and Constantine Jr. | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | ME |
| Stanford B | Berkeley A | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | ME |
| Strange Case of Dr. Joker and Mr. Pennywise | You Don't Have the Cards | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | ME |
| Team 7 | Berkeley B | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | E |
| The Worst Trade Deal in the History of Trade Deals | Maybe Ever | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | ME |
| WashU | Lex | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | ME |
Summary
| Tournament | Edition | Match | Heard | PPB | E % | M % | H % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 NAFTA at Stanford | 01/17/2026 | ✓ | 4 | 20.00 | 100% | 75% | 25% |
| 2025 NAFTA Online | 02/14/2026 | ✓ | 2 | 20.00 | 100% | 100% | 0% |
| 2026 NAFTA at Vanderbilt | 02/14/2026 | ✓ | 1 | 30.00 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 2025 NAFTA at Toronto | 09/13/2025 | ✓ | 2 | 15.00 | 100% | 50% | 0% |