science

The Life and Times of Multivac

The Life and Times of Multivac is a 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 The Life and Times of Multivac rather than just read about it. In short: "The Life and Times of Multivac" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the 5 January 1975 issue of The New York Times Magazine, and was reprinted in the collections The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories and The Best of Creative Computing in 1976.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

"The Life and Times of Multivac" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the 5 January 1975 issue of The New York Times Magazine, and was reprinted in the collections The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories and The Best of Creative Computing in 1976. It is one of a loosely connected series of stories concerning a fictional supercomputer called Multivac. "The Life and Times of Multivac" was the first piece of fiction ever commissioned and published by The New York Times. Asimov's original title for the story was "Mathematical Games", but after the story appeared under the new title he decided he liked it. In his commentary on the story in The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories collection, Asimov stated, "More people came up to me over the next few weeks to tell me they had read that story than had ever been the case for any other story I had ever written."

Plot summary When humanity begins to chafe under Multivac’s benevolent tyranny, one man takes matters into his own hands to destroy the great computer. By appearing to betray his fellow humans, he places himself in a position to permanently destroy Multivac. It is implied that it is not until completion of the act that he and his peers suddenly realize the enormity of their actions and the consequences it will have on humanity.

References

External links The Life and Times of Multivac title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database "The Life and Times of Multivac" at atariarchives.org

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Life and Times of Multivac

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Life and Times of Multivac claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In 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 The Life and Times of Multivac 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 The Life and Times of Multivac 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 The Life and Times of Multivac

In research: The Life and Times of Multivac appears in 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 The Life and Times of Multivac 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: The Life and Times of Multivac is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1975 English-language short stories, 1975 short stories, American short stories, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Life and Times of Multivac 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 The Life and Times of Multivac in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Life and Times of Multivac 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 The Life and Times of Multivac out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Life and Times of Multivac in simple terms?

Why does The Life and Times of Multivac matter?

Because it connects several 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 The Life and Times of Multivac?

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 The Life and Times of Multivac.