Just Started By A Dead Calculator
This story is inspired by a moment that happened in a small place in Daejeon about a month ago. Arina, one of ITB undergraduate students who is majored in physics, ran a simulation on her AnSys Lumerical to obtain the best structure of semiconductor circuit which can optimize its coupling quality factor value. She did some calculations by her hand, but accidentally her calculator battery was running out. Since she had only a little competence in speaking and understanding Korean, she was panic. Arina walked and thought in confuse for her calculator; and also she was out of idea to choose one of the following steps to maintain her calculation proper: buying a new calculator, exposing her calculator under sunlight, or try a new calculation method.
The clock shown 12 pm KST and the bell which stands high above the KAIST duck pond lighthouse started to rang. Yes, you are not misspelled the campus name. Arina had an internship in KAIST from mid-June to mid-August 2023, and she had her internship in KAIST sub-wavelength laboratory. Before went out from her lab, Arina checked the East Graduate canteen menu on KAIST Cafeteria website (if you are curious about that, you can see it at 목록 > Cafeteria Menu > Living in KAIST < Campus Life < KAIST and choose the canteen that you want) and she found that some of the meal contain pork. Because Arina cannot eat pork and the rest of the menu inhibit Arina’s mood to eat, thus Arina decided to go to Pull-Bit Maru, a halal restaurant that located in the hind side of KAIST.
Arina’s laboratory is located in E6–6 building, and since Pull-Bit Maru is located in N-11, Arina must take a walk for about 15–20 minutes to hike the road which is inclined like a hill. But fortunately, there is a stationery shop in N7–3. Thus, Arina brought an excess amount of money, about KRW 100,000, to bought a lunch meal and a new calculator. She tried to shot two ducks with a stone during her journey to the north.
When Arina hiked an inclined track beside the football field, Arina was focused on a road branch. After that, a random moment happened. Six weeks in South Korea means Arina never ate a Wajik — one of Javanese traditional food which made from beras ketan and have a diamond shape — for one and half months too. Arina suddenly missed the moment when she ate some Wajik with her family, and also a moment in a beginning weeks of Computational Physics course in her sixth semester. She remembered that she studied Flowgorithm to make a flowchart. And also going back further, she remembered that she took an Introduction to Computation online class — due to Covid-19 pandemic, thus all of the lectures are held online — during her first semester in ITB. All of mentioned lectures stated that the “Wajik-shaped” part of flowchart means an intersection of if-else condition. This impulsive moment made Arina to drawn the imaginary flowchart of her trip to recharge her calculator. She pulled a conclusion like this:
go to stationery and buy a calculator
if calculator == yes:
buy a calculator
go to pullbitmaru and eat
else:
go to pullbitmaru and eat
if day == sunny:
dry the calculator
else:
take a contemplation to make a new calculation
Okay, it is just a random pseudocode, but it represents what Arina thought that day. And unfortunately, KAIST stationery calculator stock was ran out, but since the day is sunny with heat wave, Arina decided to exposed her calculator under the sunlight. Arina’s calculator has a solar panel above the screen, so sunbathing her calculator can recharge its battery power.
Yes, you read the true fact. South Korea experienced heat wave during late July to mid August. You can read the news about that and also the impact, like some evacuations during the World Jamboree in this link ‘Worst nightmare’: South Korea mulls disastrous Scout jamboree | South Korea | The Guardian. The sunny days temperature made a race with human’s and the typhoon hit the country some times. Fortunately, Daejeon was not as hot as coastal cities like Seoul, but the worst news said that Daejeon was the center of the typhoons, like one which happened around August 10th to 11th. According to Accuweather, wind could blown the Daejeon atmosphere with a speed of 70 kmph, highest if it is compared to another cities.
Now, lets go back to Arina. Arina exposed her calculator for around fifteen minutes, but since she felt that her calculator can be operated again, she decided to went back to her lab. Although she was happy with her calculator, she was confused with a question: “Can she recharged her calculator as fast as this in Indonesia?” Arina thrown a hypothesis that she wouldn’t recharge her calculator as fast as in Daejeon since sunlight intensity in Indonesia, especially in Bandung, is not likely to beat Daejeon sunlight intensity, even when Bandung has a heatwave. But, she still didn’t impressed enough since she was blank to figure out how long the charging must be taken if she recharges her calculator in a sunny day in Bandung (although it is obviously more brief than charging it under a rainy day in Stoke).
Some days passed and the date shown August 9th 2023. Arina must filled an FRS (Form Rencana Studi) on her SIX (Sistem Informasi Akademik — ITB academic account — ) for her seventh semester. Arina took a mandatory lecture, Physical System Simulation and Modelling, not just to fulfill her transcript with mandatory courses, but also answer her questions and also develop her curiosity in calculator charging problem and also many bigger problems around the world. She commits to invest her time to study about modelling and simulating real world problems, not just by attending the courses, but also make some discussions with her classmates, lecturers, and also her students since she applies a job in Quantum Physics tutor assistant: either by make a healthy discussion or stimulated discussion by injecting real world problems into the class problem sets.
Two weeks gone and Arina finally attended her first meet of Physical System Simulation and Modelling class. Her lecturer, who was an active member of HIMAFI 1992, thrown a fireball that someone must not join his class, unless if he/she is not strong enough to do a lot of tasks. But since Arina loves the challenges, and even also she always gave challenging problems when she made Quantum Physics and Electromagnetic Field problem sets, the words before doesn’t affect her spirit to complete the class with her beloved and most usual grade, A. And maybe, since Arina usually got A on her challenging classes and bottled her “easy” classes, rain of challenges will stimulate her effort to hug the A index, obviously with her commitments and well-planned efforts to bring some hands-on activities, discussions, and also group studies.
Okay, the story is coming to its end. Maybe you feel that Arina’s story is similiar with someone else’s story in real world, since this story is inspired by someone else’s. And also, if the story is not constructed in order of the task bullets order, that’s made by the writer who also did the same when the writer made some problem sets for homework, quizzes, and even maybe inspiring the lecturers to include the writer’s problems in examinations. Have a great and cheerful day :D