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Quizzes

Shaastra Main Quiz

Are Wikipedia and Slashdot among your favorite web pages? Or,do you crack up at Randall Munroe’s sense of humor? Do you pride yourself on your knowledge of science and technology? If yes, get moving to IIT Madras early this October. Because the Shaastra Main Quiz is here again. Bigger, for certain, and better as well.



The Shaastra Main Quiz (SMQ) is the mother of all tech quizzes in the country and is the ultimate test of tech and science trivia. At SMQ, the questions are certain to tingle your senses and entail increase in Google searches and Wikipedia hits for at least a week... but, will that be enough?



This time around, look forward to the new buzzer round, audio-visual round and other special rounds which are sure to make the SMQ a fulfilling and complete quizzing experience for all.



The winners, apart from being recognized and saluted "BY THE BEST AS THE BEST" tech quizzers in the country, walk away with a handsome sum of money. Also, there are tons of exciting audience prizes up for grabs







Event Format

Written prelims followed by 2 semifinals and the finals.

  1. Teams can be of a maximum size of 2.
  2. Team members can be from different colleges.


Sample Questions

  1. We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes."

    How do we better know this statement?

    Ans: Laplace’s Demon

  2. The Indiana Pi Bill is the popular name for bill #246 of the 1897 sitting of the Indiana General Assembly, which is one of the most famous attempts to establish scientific truth by legislative fiat. Despite its popular name, the main result claimed by the bill is a method to _____________.
    In the course of history, a large number of mathematicians have tried and failed at the problem, even with the proof of its impossibility not proving to be a hindrance.

    The futility of undertaking exercises aimed at ______________ has brought this term into use in totally unrelated contexts, where it is simply used to mean a hopeless, meaningless, or vain undertaking.

    The bill never became law, thanks to the speedy intervention of a mathematics professor who was incidentally present in the legislature.

    Ans: Squaring a circle

  3. A design or implementation bug in a program that doesn't manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point the program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though this sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harboured latent _________ for years.

    Ans: Schroedinbug

FAQs

  1. What kind of questions will the quiz have?
    Questions will be more or less related to science,technology and related trivia. Many questions will be workable even for people without much technical knowledge. The questions are generally designed to make you think, unconventionally. Have a look at the sample questions above.

  2. How is SMQ different from How Things Work?
    We must emphasize that the SMQ is not a 'How Things Work'. Lengthy explanations and a high level of technical knowledge isn't required.

  3. What are the skills needed?
    None.An inquisitive and open mind should suffice. However, knowledge in the areas of science and technology will help(duh!). Your branch will not matter.

  4. What preparation can we do?
    Get a pen. Get your team mates. Come on time. That's all.

  5. We are keen on winning the quiz. What preparation can we do?
    Running through the 2 375 000+ articles in Wikipedia might help.

  6. Okay, we've done that. What else can we do?
    Mug the 2 375 000+ articles in Wikipedia.

  7. Okay, we've done that. What else can we do?
    Send us a mail. You win.

Contacts

Mathew Joseph josif.m@gmail.com
Srivats V srivats88@gmail.com
Vignesh Shenoy vigneshshenoy@gmail.com