squee over numerical methods

We had a quiz in numerical methods today and this was the first quiz I felt like I aced. I had emailed our professor the night before, asking if we needed to memorize all the various equations, or if they would be on the quiz; we needed to memorize them. Well, I got them down pat and the quiz was easy because of it. Simpson’s 1/3 method for approximating an integral? You’s mah bitch!

Well, so anyway, our professor has been disappointed with us in the past because we don’t all do so well on her quizzes. She’ll explain something to us and comment in this kind of sad, desperate voice, “I can’t make it any easier!” She keeps encouraging us to make sure our friends don’t drop the class, and she’s just very enthusiastic about her subject, math, in general, talking about how a particular theorem is beautiful and that she loves it. Some folks today tried to turn in a blank quiz, but she fussed at them and made them sit back down to at least attempt something.

So when I turned in my quiz, having known what I was doing, she glanced over the front, then the back, while I waited. She slowly raised her head, biting her lower lip, and gave me a thumbs-up while making a kind of “Eeeee!” sound at me—I think I witnessed a “squee.” It was hilariously cute; it also helped that she’s a very petite Korean lady.