At Duke University, there were four sophomores taking Organic
Chemistry. They were doing so well on all the quizzes, midterms and
labs, etc., that each had an A so far for the semester.
These four friends were so confident that the weekend before finals,
they decided to go up to the University of Virginia and party with
some friends there. They had a great time, but after all the hearty
partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Duke
until early Monday morning.
Rather than taking the final then, they decided to find their
professor after the final and explain to him why they missed it.
They explained that they had gone to UVA for the weekend with the
plan to come back in time to study, but, unfortunately, they had a
flat tire on the way back, didn't have a spare, and couldn't get
help for a long time. As a result, they missed the final.
The professor thought it over and then agreed they could make up the
final the following day. The guys were elated and relieved. They
studied that night and went in the next day at the time the
professor had told them.
He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test
booklet, and told them to begin.
They looked at the first problem, worth five points. It was
something simple about free radical formation. Cool, they thought!
All at the same time, each one in his separate room, thought, this
is going to be easy.
Each finished the lengthy problem and then turned the page. On the
second page was written: