Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!columbia!topaz!OC.TREI@CU20B.ARPA From: OC.TREI@CU20B.ARPA Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: MultivAC question.... Message-ID: <2029@topaz.ARPA> Date: Mon, 20-May-85 01:11:11 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.2029 Posted: Mon May 20 01:11:11 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 21-May-85 04:20:58 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 30 From: Peter G. Trei A while back, when all the discussion of Asimov's Multivac stories was taking place, I asked the burning question: 'What does the AC at the end of Multivac et. al. stand for?'. I received 9 responses, of which 5 were correct. I guess that this shows that net-landers read the classics (or maybe we're just old). The first correct answer came from Bob Carter , whose two-word reponse was 'Analogue Computer'. While I strongly suspect Asimov used the US spelling of 'analog', this is close enough and Bob may have his ten bonus points. Check 'The Last Question' in Nine Tommorows for this answer. The other correct responses came from (in order of reception): Peter Alfke , Stephen Balzac , 'deej' , and 'jbl' . Incorrect responses centered around analogies to Univac: (UNIVersal Automatic Computer). This is a very easy error, and I suspect that The Good Doctor had Univac in mind when he wrote the story. Other suggestions were Algorithmic Computer, Analytic(al) Calculator, and Asimov's Computer (or Asimov and Clarke (!)). Other observations: "Multivac is to Univac as Unix is to Multics." Bruce Leban. "Multivax would be a good node-name for an VAX 11/782." Robert Krawitz. Peter -------