AST104 Final Exam Questions and
Answers
It is somewhat traditional or at least not unusual to begin a book or course on
______ with a philosophical/historical/poetical statement.
a) agronomy
b) astronomy
c) metallurgy
d) proctology
e) tautology - ✅✅b) astronomy
An activity that involves a study of objective reality and the scientific method.
a) accounting
b) poetry
c) home repair
d) homework
e) science - ✅✅e) science
The scientific method can be schematically described as a/an:
a) square of theorizing and experiment/observation.
b) integrative process.
c) reductive process.
,d) a cycle of theorizing and experiment/observation.
e) a pointless pursuit. - ✅✅d) a cycle of theorizing and
experiment/observation.
Most people would agree that science is
a) digressive.
b) regressive.
c) progressive.
d) impressive.
e) depressive. - ✅✅c) progressive
To give an inadequate, but arguably useful, definition: A human pursuit which has
no absolute standard (although personal or local standards are common and
probably essential) that, among other things, tries to extend human
understanding and to give pleasure, sometimes of a very qualified sort.
a) a science
b) nonsense
c) geology
d) of no conceivable use
e) an art - ✅✅e) an art
Physics can be briefly defined as the science of:
,a) human relations.
b) sports and leisure.
c) matter and motion.
d) matter and rest.
e) light. - ✅✅c) matter and motion.
It is the branch of physics that is the search for very general laws and very general
results (which are derived from those general laws). The general laws and results
are always (or almost always) expressible as mathematical formulae.
a) applied physics
b) fundamental physics
c) astronomy
d) low-temperature physics
e) geophysics - ✅✅b) fundamental physics
'Just so' in physics.
a) a story by Rudyard Kipling
b) essential
c) eternal
d) fundamental
e) infernal - ✅✅d) fundamental
Astronomy includes both ________ and fundamental physics.
, a) psychology.
b) applied physics.
c) other than physics.
d) fundamental physics.
e) indifferent physics. - ✅✅b) applied physics.
In the opinion of the instructor, it is any important theory that applies to reality in
some form. Such theories are in some sense and to some degree independent of
other theories including the true fundamental theory of physics. They emerge
from reality and are like Platonic ideals. Another view is that it is a theory that
applies to a complex system but not to that system's components. It emerges
from the complexity. The two views aren't all that far apart if you define
complexity broadly enough
a) convergent
b) emergent
c) divergent
d) specious
e) faux - ✅✅b) emergent
Evolution by survival of the fittest is used in computer calculations to find
optimum solutions to problems where the solutions are treated as breeding
entities. The best known of such techniques is called the:
a) genetic algorithm method.
b) scientific method.
Answers
It is somewhat traditional or at least not unusual to begin a book or course on
______ with a philosophical/historical/poetical statement.
a) agronomy
b) astronomy
c) metallurgy
d) proctology
e) tautology - ✅✅b) astronomy
An activity that involves a study of objective reality and the scientific method.
a) accounting
b) poetry
c) home repair
d) homework
e) science - ✅✅e) science
The scientific method can be schematically described as a/an:
a) square of theorizing and experiment/observation.
b) integrative process.
c) reductive process.
,d) a cycle of theorizing and experiment/observation.
e) a pointless pursuit. - ✅✅d) a cycle of theorizing and
experiment/observation.
Most people would agree that science is
a) digressive.
b) regressive.
c) progressive.
d) impressive.
e) depressive. - ✅✅c) progressive
To give an inadequate, but arguably useful, definition: A human pursuit which has
no absolute standard (although personal or local standards are common and
probably essential) that, among other things, tries to extend human
understanding and to give pleasure, sometimes of a very qualified sort.
a) a science
b) nonsense
c) geology
d) of no conceivable use
e) an art - ✅✅e) an art
Physics can be briefly defined as the science of:
,a) human relations.
b) sports and leisure.
c) matter and motion.
d) matter and rest.
e) light. - ✅✅c) matter and motion.
It is the branch of physics that is the search for very general laws and very general
results (which are derived from those general laws). The general laws and results
are always (or almost always) expressible as mathematical formulae.
a) applied physics
b) fundamental physics
c) astronomy
d) low-temperature physics
e) geophysics - ✅✅b) fundamental physics
'Just so' in physics.
a) a story by Rudyard Kipling
b) essential
c) eternal
d) fundamental
e) infernal - ✅✅d) fundamental
Astronomy includes both ________ and fundamental physics.
, a) psychology.
b) applied physics.
c) other than physics.
d) fundamental physics.
e) indifferent physics. - ✅✅b) applied physics.
In the opinion of the instructor, it is any important theory that applies to reality in
some form. Such theories are in some sense and to some degree independent of
other theories including the true fundamental theory of physics. They emerge
from reality and are like Platonic ideals. Another view is that it is a theory that
applies to a complex system but not to that system's components. It emerges
from the complexity. The two views aren't all that far apart if you define
complexity broadly enough
a) convergent
b) emergent
c) divergent
d) specious
e) faux - ✅✅b) emergent
Evolution by survival of the fittest is used in computer calculations to find
optimum solutions to problems where the solutions are treated as breeding
entities. The best known of such techniques is called the:
a) genetic algorithm method.
b) scientific method.
