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.
- Read Andrei Toom's article, A
Russian Teacher in America. This article is posted on
Blackboard in the Course Materials section.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Consider the OpenTable
system.
- 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.
- Give a step by step description of the process a person
follows to make a reservation using OpenTable.
- Describe a new functionality that designers could add to add
to the capabilities of OpenTable.
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