Is Bob promoting sexism in his science classroom?

[Phrak]

I don't see Alice around the lab too much but she shows up far more often in homework exercises.

Just off hand, I think Bob, the nerd prof, is trying way-hard to attract females to his classroom. In example is the following typical homework question to this effect, recently posted:-

Homework Statement

3. A laser scientist tells you that her He-Ne laser can be focused to a spot size of 5.00 microns. When pressed for details, she tells you that she got this number by measuring the Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of the intensity profile of the laser waist.

Why is Bob doing this? I don't think Mary authored these questions.

 

[Pengwuino]

Bob sounds like a perv

 

[Phrak]

Ha-ha. But seriously, what's going on?

 

[Pengwuino]

I have no idea what you're talking about and think you're drunk.

 

[Phrak]

I have no idea what you're talking about and think you're drunk.

Yeah, but is it just lonely Bob? Is it that simple?

 

[Phrak]

It's been nearly 3 hrs and not even the most militant females here have made a single serious attack.

Am I to presume that Bob, the sexually repulsive nerd, really is a slavering horn dog with bad hygiene and poorly developed social skills, and physics is not for women because they suck at it despite Bob's lust for Alice?

Ladies?

 

[epenguin]

It was rather impersonal when it used to be Observers O₁ and O₂ but we didn't use to have these problems, admittedly a bit when pronouns had to be used.

 

[Phrak]

It was rather impersonal when it used to be Observers O₁ and O₂ but we didn't use to have these problems, admittedly a bit when pronouns had to be used.

What problem? I'm the only problem that I am aware of. Do you know of any other individuals interfering with this blatant sexism other than myself?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Why is Bob doing this? I don't think Mary authored these questions.

The reason Bob is doing this is because you don't think Mary did.

 

[G01]

What kind of society do we live in?!

Since when do gentleman inquire, in public, about the size of a woman's full width half max?!

In my day, it would not be proper to inquire about such...intimate... details regarding a lady's oscillator.

If this type of discussion is allowed on PF, the next thing you know, we will have people comparing their beam diameters in GD, or competing for the longest Raleigh Range in P&WA!

What people consider decent table conversation these days never ceases to astound me...

 

[nismaratwork]

I think it's sad when Bob and Alice have recession velocities exceeding c... never the twain shall meet again.

<end sarcasm>

 

[micromass]

Who the hell is Bob?

 

[nismaratwork]

Who the hell is Bob?

I just hope that he's not related to Alice and Charlie!

 

[dacruick]

If it was a he then it would sound much more perverted. The question is oddly worded anyways. But I'm not exactly sure if you're making a statement or not.

 

[Jack21222]

What is this? I don't even...

 

[nismaratwork]

What is this? I don't even...

Alice (A), Bob (B), Charlie (C)...

http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~lenz/PHYS 180.F10/Chap4.sum.pdf
Random example:

Relative motion is an example of vector addition. Suppose Alice and Bob are in Africa
on safari. Alice is standing on the ground while Bob is riding in a jeep when a cheetah
suddenly starts chasing a young wildebeest. Alice locates the position of the cheetah
with a vector rAnn(t) which stretches from her to the cheetah while Bob keeps track of the
cheetah with a vector rBob(t) which stretches from his location in the jeep to the cheetah.
For convenience assume that at t = 0 Bob and Alice were at the same spot and that
Alice’s x and y axes are parallel to Bob’s x’ and y’ axes. From Alice’s perspective Bob is
located at R(t), the vector that goes from Alice to Bob in the jeep. Note that with the
choices made earlier R(0) = 0 since Alice and Bob are in the same spot at t = 0.

 

[Drakkith]

No. Bob is a hot pocket.