The Perils of Generating Functions (and Submitting a Note from a Parent with an Exam)

When I taught Math 1d, my exam instructions included a joke line that went something along the lines of "You may also use a note from your mother, though you won't need one." One student (and fellow Caltech undergrad) actually got her mother to write this note, which is fantastic (despite the threats against both Lloyd House and the Los Angeles Dodgers).

I had this posted on my door at Georgia Tech when I was a postdoc, and I found the note a year ago today when I was going through an old spiral notebook.

As a @Caltech undergraduate, I taught a probability course (Math 1d) and introduced freshmen to the glories of generating functions.

My exam instructions included a line like: "You may also use a note from your mother, though you won't need one."

One student took me up on it. pic.twitter.com/I2Ocif9ttA

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) March 27, 2018