Question 1

In the late 1800s, Horatio Alger wrote over 100 fictional stories of amazing success from rags-to-riches. Functionalists used Alger's stories to support their belief that failure and success lies squarely on the individual.

• Does the belief that failure and success lies squarely with the individual release society from any responsibility in assisting those needing help?

• Support your position with examples.

Respond to this... I think that this topic is a bit subjective. I do believe that success and some failure lies with the individual. You have to put in the effort in order to be successful. Successful can be defined in many ways. It does not necessarily equate to wealth. To me it means that you are holding a job, paying your bills and helping to take care of your family by helping to provide food, clothing, and shelter. At some point in our lives, many of us will fall on hard times whether it is due to downsizing and losing our job or medical issues that force a person to stop working. These things are not within our circle of control, and we may need government assistance for a time. Just because success is within our circle of control, it shouldn't completely release society from social responsibility. The issue comes in to play when individuals abuse the system and learn how to play the system.

When we have extra time or a few extra dollars, we should try to help those in need. Whether it be through volunteering our time, donating to the local food shelf, or money to a worthy cause, it is our individual social responsibility to give back when we can. This is not to say that we should give all of our worldly possessions away to help others, but if we can spare that extra few dollars towards cancer research, or for the red kettle that you walk past at your local grocery store, then we should.

Question 2

The traveling salesman problem (TSP) is a somewhat misleading title as it does not always relate to a salesman. The TSP, however, does involve a trip between a set of points that needs to be calculated as efficiently as possible.

Select your own example of a scenario in which a TSP can be used to find a solution. Explain how using a TSP will help in your scenario and then share what you think is the most optimal solution.

Respond to this...The smallest nontrivial case is n=4n=4, for which the edge costs are as follows:

c(AB)=200

c(AC)=201

c(BC)=200

c(AD)=400

c(BD)=201

c(CD)=300

(There's a free parameter M>nM>n in their construction, which I've set to M=100M=100 for clarity.)

The greedy algorithm starting from AA yields the tour ABCDAABCDA whose cost

c(ABCDA)=200+200+300+400=1100c(ABCDA)=200+200+300+400=1100 is worse than that of both other tours,

c(ABDCA)=902c(ABDCA)=902 and c(ACBDA)=1002c(ACBDA)=1002.