A Ton of Crap (114 page)

ANSWER KEY: c, a, b, a, a, c, b, b, c, d

HISTORY:
Korean War
Origins of the War, Surprise Attack from North Korea, Inchon Invasion, Dismissal of MacArthur, End of the “Accordion War,” The End of the War

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Existentialism
What Is Existentialism?, The Origins of Existentialism, Existentialist Literature, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Søren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre

MATH:
Unsolved Math Problems
P
versus
NP
Problem, Hodge Conjecture, Riemann Hypothesis, Yang-Mills Existence and Mass Gap, Navier-Stokes Equations, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture

SCIENCE:
Anthropology
What Is Anthropology?, Physical Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, Archaeology, Applied Anthropology

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
Cherokee
The Origins, Sequoyah, The Writing System, Dialects, Creating New Words, Useful Cherokee Phrases

KOREAN WAR

Origins of the War
Following World War II, the Soviet Union began moving into Korea. The United States did not want Korea to become another Communist state and moved in as well. The 38th parallel was decided as the division between the part controlled by America (South Korea) and the part controlled by the Soviet Union (North Korea). During this time, the Korean people created an interim government known as the Korean People’s Republic, which became increasingly more communist. The Soviet Union recognized the new government, but the United States would not, and the KPR became pro-Soviet. The United States tried to bring a free market to South Korea, but it led to elevated prices and famine. The United States handed the issue over to the UN, and elections were held including all of Korea. Following the elections, the North cut off all power to the South.

EXISTENTIALISM

What Is Existentialism?
Existentialism is the philosophical study of the meaning of existence. There are several key ideas that existentialism touches on, such as free will, the idea that human nature is made by the choices one makes in life, the idea that decisions create stress and have consequences, and that a person is at their best when struggling for life. Existentialism is very much about understanding the meaning of life on a personal level without touching on factors like wealth, social values, or other external forces.

UNSOLVED MATH PROBLEMS

P
versus
NP
Problem
One of the most famous unsolved problems is the
P
versus
NP
problem in computer science. Posed by Stephen Cook in 1971, the problem essentially asks whether all problems that have solutions that can be efficiently checked with computers can also be efficiently solved with computers. Another way of asking the
P
versus
NP
problem is: If a problem’s solutions can be verified rapidly, then can the solutions be computed rapidly? There are currently problems where there is no way to arrive at a solution quickly; however, verifying the answer can be done quickly.

ANTHROPOLOGY

What Is Anthropology?
Anthropology covers a wide area; however, it is essentially the study of humans in the past and in the present. Anthropology draws upon the social, physical, and biological sciences, as well as the humanities. Anthropology can be categorized into four different areas of study: physical (or biological) anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology. One main part of anthropology is to apply this knowledge of humans to be able to solve problems. Often, in order to address a complex matter such as the evolution of humans or spread of disease, anthropologists will have to combine these fields of study.

CHEROKEE

The Origins
The Cherokee language is one of the Iroquoian languages, and it is the only Southern Iroquoian language that is still spoken today. The language came from the Native American people living in what is now North Carolina and northern Georgia. The language is really called Tsalagi, and the word
Cherokee
was actually given by the white settlers, who had learned the word from the Creek people, for whom
Cherokee
meant “people with another language.” Today, Cherokee is the healthiest of the Native American languages.