June 26, 2009

Idaho Society of Professional Engineers

PO Box 170239, Boise, ID 83717-0239 208-426-0636 Fax: 208-426-0639 E-Mail: ispe@idahospe.org

Idaho Society of Professional Engineers

Friday Update – 06/26/09

UPCOMING EVENTS:

	October 23, 2009 - PE & PS Examinations – Boise Idaho
	October 24, 2009 - FE (aka EIT) and FS (aka LSIT) Examination - Boise, Idaho, Pocatello, Idaho, Moscow, Idaho

WEREN’T ABLE TO ATTEND THE 2009 ISPE ANNUAL MEETING?

You can View Power Point presentations from two of the seminars held during the Annual Meeting and presented by Michael Hardy, P.E., F.NSPE - NSPE Vice-President

An Overview of the NSPE Code of Ethics and how to use it (Power Point)
Generational Factors Affecting Associations and the Workplace (Power Point)

K-21 ENERGY SCOPING AUDIT RFQ

The Office of Energy Resources is issuing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking qualified professional engineering consulting firms (individuals, partnerships, and companies) interested in conducting energy scoping audits in public K-12 existing school buildings in Idaho.

OER plans to establish a list of qualified professional engineering firms or individuals for development of up to 25 statewide contracts for the purpose of implementing approximately 703 scoping audits and other services for Idaho K-12 school districts. The qualified firms or individuals selected for the list will be eligible to contract with OER to perform specified work. Scoping Audit RFQ 6.25.09.pdf

++George Russell Biography – Read about one of ISPE’s longtime members.++

ISPE SINCERELY APPRECIATES THE SUPPORT OF ALL OF OUR CURRENT 2008 – 2009 SUSTAINING ORGANIZATIONS:

AHJ Engineers PC

B & A Engineers, Inc

Briggs Engineering Inc

Elkhorn Engineers

G & S Structural Engineers

J.M. Miller Engineering Inc

J-U-B Engineers, Inc

Land Solutions, Land Surveying & Consulting

Mason & Stanfield Inc

Materials Testing & Inspection Inc

MWH

Progressive Engineering Group Inc

Quadrant Consulting, Inc

Riedesel Engineering Inc

Schiess & Associates

Smarter Process Inc

Stapley Engineering

Terracon

TerraGraphics Environmental Engineers Inc

Walker Engineering

Please consider joining these great companies in becoming an ISPE Sustaining Organization. ISPE offers the Sustaining Organization category of membership to enhance the visibility of your commitment to ISPE and the engineering profession. Your membership will allow us to better serve the engineering community through promoting engineering and ethics, and supporting the needs of the engineer including professional development.

If you are interested in becoming a Sustaining Organization, please contact the ISPE office at ispe@idahospe.org

MATHCOUNTS PROBLEM OF THE WEEK

Can you solve this MATHCOUNTS problem? The answer will appear in the next edition of the Friday Update!

Ice Cream Shoppe

Small Town Ice Cream Shoppe carries five kinds of ice cream: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon custard, and caramel swirl. They also have three types of toppings: sprinkles, chopped nuts, and hot fudge. A “Shoppe Supreme” consists of three scoops of ice cream, not necessarily distinct flavors, and three scoops of toppings, also not necessarily distinct. The ice cream is always scooped before the toppings are added, in how many distinct ways can a Shoppe Supreme be assembled at the Small Town Ice Cream Shoppe?

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In the Ice Cream Shoppe there are stools at the counter. Janet, Mason, Renae, Steve and Trina are going to sit side-by-side at the counter so that there are no empty seats between them. If Trina and Mason must sit next to each other, in how many possible distinct orders can they sit?

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Finally, Janet, Mason, Renae, Steve and Trina’s orders are done but the waitress has forgotten who ordered what (and she is too embarrassed to ask). If she randomly places the drinks down, one in front of each person, what is the probability that she sets each of the five drinks down in front of the person who ordered it? Express your answer as a common fraction.

Answer to the last MATHCOUNTS problem:

(5³ - 10)/5

(125 - 10)/5

115/5

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Define m # n as Im - nI - m² for all integers from 1 to 10 inclusive. If m and n are distinct integers, what is the smallest possible value of m # n
Since the first part of the expression involves an absolute value, we know the first part of the expression will have to be positive. If we want to make the final value as small as possible we need the result of Im - nI to be as small as possible. Since m and n must be distinct integers we can't get a result of 0 but a pair of consecutive integers will produce a result of 1 in this situation. Next we need to think about what will happen when we subtract the squared value of m. Since we are looking for the smallest value we want to subtract the largest possible value from 1, thus m²should be 10² = 100. Thus, the smallest possible value is 1 - 100 = -99.

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Define a & b as a² - b² + ab when a and b are real numbers. What is the value of
(3 & 4) &5
Let's deal with the (3 & 4) first.
(3² - 4² + (3)(4)) = 9 - 16 + 12 = 5