NNT on engineers, mathematicians, and economists

The Black Swan author Nassim Taleb makes so secret of his disdain for economics and most economists.

Engineers can compute but not define, mathematicians can define but not compute, economists can neither compute nor define.Fri Jun 18 11:50:04 via UberTwitterNassim N Taleb
nntaleb

Since I have a computer science degree with a math minor and am working on an economics degree, apparently I'm in the process of wiping out my abilities to compute and define. Ha.

So I actually earned that A after all

Last week I sent this email to Dr. Watson regarding my ECO 420K grade:

Dr. Watson-

I'm happy and relieved to see on the registrar's site that I received an A in your 420K class, but I have to say I'm a little surprised too. I wasn't at all sure I had done well on the final exam. I don't see a grade for it on Blackboard--can you tell me how I did?

Thanks,
Charlie

This morning he responded:

Charlie,

On the final exam you scored 73.5 out of 90, compared with a class average of 44. That is an excellent score, and it was in fact the second highest score in a class of 48 students.

Congratulations on your overall performance, which was well deserving of your A. Thanks for your participation in the class, and best of luck with your future studies.

Randal Watson

Whew!