SYST 210

System Design

Kathryn Blackmond Laskey
Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research
George Mason University
Homework Assignment 1
Due September 1, 2020, noon

Reading assignment: Buede, Chapter 1. SE Handbook, Chapter 2. Andrei Toom, A Russian Teacher in America, American Educator, 1993.

Homework must be neat and readable.  Your name, the assignment number, and the due date must appear at the top of every page.  Clearly indicate the question you are answering. You do not need to copy the entire question, but you must mark the question number and a brief description at the beginning of your answer for each question. For example, before answering 2a, you might write: 2a. Functions. Please upload your assignment to Blackboard by the due date and time. 

  1. Read Andrei Toom's article, A Russian Teacher in America. This article is posted on Blackboard in the Course Materials section.
    1. Professor Toom makes several provocative statements about education in America.  Discuss a statement he makes in the article, preferably one that arouses a strong reaction in you. Repeat his statement. Do you agree with it? Disagree? Agree partially?  Give reasons for your answer.
    2. Toom gave his students a problem that most could not solve. "Tom and Dick can do a job in two hours. Tom and Harry can do the same job in three hours. Dick and Harry can do the same job in four hours. How long will it take for all three of them to do this job?"  Solve this problem.  Explain your reasoning. 
    3. Toom calls the Tom, Dick and Harry problem "simple, almost arithmetic,"  and says he solved it in middle school. Do you agree this problem is simple? Do you think middle school students should be expected to solve it?  Do you think it is troubling that most of Toom's college students could not answer it? Give reasons for your answer.
  2. Consider the OpenTable system.
    1. Name two categories of stakeholders of OpenTable.  Describe a requirement that is shared by both categories of stakeholders.  Describe two requirements held by different stakeholders that conflict with each other.  Discuss how system designers can balance the needs of these different categories of stakeholders.
    2. Give a step by step description of the process a person follows to make a reservation using OpenTable.
    3. Describe a new functionality that designers could add to add to the capabilities of OpenTable.

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