Experiments in Lavatory Dynamics (UMAP)

Until very recently, most Bush toilets were controlled by a mechanism whose workings were filled with differential poetry. In the rear tank of the toilet was a bulbous metal Boat, budding in hues of oxidation at the end of a gently curving metal stem. As the tank filled with water after flushing, the Boat would gently rise on the water's roiling surface. Through the stem, the rising Boat would gradually close off the inflow valve on a vertical ball cock connected to the water pipe. Throughout this process, a high-pitched sound would emanate from the tank. The pitch would rise, and rise, and rise-interminably, it seemed-as if reaching for some unattainable ultimate tone. Bounded, however, by what could never be, the mechanism would finally cross over, in heroic gesture, to an indefnite silence. Contemplation of this tragic aria was the closest that many people would ever come to the sublime asymptotics of the bounded exponential function.

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

REFERENCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR