computer science

Planet Cancer

Planet Cancer is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Planet Cancer rather than just read about it. In short: Planet Cancer was an online community for young adults with cancer. The organization approached the disease with a sense of humor and included a "cancertainment" section with amusing essays including "Top 10 Signs You've Joined a Cheap HMO." Planet Cancer was founded by Heidi Schultz Adams, a young adult cancer survivor who was diagnosed at 26 with Ewing's sarcoma, to help young adult cancer patients overcome isolat…

Key takeaways

Planet Cancer belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Planet Cancer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Planet Cancer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Planet Cancer was an online community for young adults with cancer. The organization approached the disease with a sense of humor and included a "cancertainment" section with amusing essays including "Top 10 Signs You've Joined a Cheap HMO." Planet Cancer was founded by Heidi Schultz Adams, a young adult cancer survivor who was diagnosed at 26 with Ewing's sarcoma, to help young adult cancer patients overcome isolation and connect with other cancer survivors in their age group. It was acquired by the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 2009.

References

External links Planet Cancer at the Wayback Machine (archived July 8, 2007)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Planet Cancer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Planet Cancer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Planet Cancer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Planet Cancer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Planet Cancer

In research: Planet Cancer appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Planet Cancer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Planet Cancer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American medical websites, American social networking websites, Defunct social networking services, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Planet Cancer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Planet Cancer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Planet Cancer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Planet Cancer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Planet Cancer in simple terms?

Why does Planet Cancer matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Planet Cancer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Planet Cancer.