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Illinois Calculator and Keystrokes (ICK for short) - that not so famous calculator maker - has an island somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland. It's a relatively small island. They own it too, making taxes easier, very smart.
Why ? What do they have on this island?
Relax with the questions....I'll get to it. Anyway, remember the island of discarded toys from one of those fantastic holiday claymation specials? It's kind of like that Island...Only instead of discarded toys and broken toys it's an island of Broken Calculators. Exciting, Eh? To some I'm sure...
Every year after the holidays ICK must make room for new discarded calculators. To make this room they sort through the current discarded calculators and find those that can be shipped to all the clearance bins across the United States. To be sold for a few dollars or so. They can't rightly incinerate every one of the poor calculators now can they?
They do incinerate the poor discarded calculators that were born with no equal sign. The lack of a plus sign is never a good lot for a calculator either...neither is the lack of a multiplication, division, or subtraction symbol.
The lack of a number key, now that is not that terrible. ICK can make use of some of those young calculators. ICK hires individuals like you to help rescue the discarded calculators that can be saved and turned into purchasable merchandise, even at a large discount. They pay pretty well for a few weeks work, very comparable to those Alaskan Fishing Boat wages. Something like 10,000 crisp American dollars (Before Uncle Sam gets his grubby paws on them) for 4 weeks work.
Sounds pretty good, eh?
Well, sit down pal...It's not that simple. You have to go through an applicant screening process. This web site offers the first level of that process.
This web site is part of the application process. ICK has found a few common flaws in the discarded calculators of days from long past. They present these flaws here and it is up to you to come up with certain techniques that you'd recommend to the potential purchaser of this "Broken" calculator - they include these as post-notes in the instruction manual.
ICK has provided a few tasks here that can be done on your computer. The marvels of the Internet truly abound.
A question or series of questions will be posed to you. These will deal with the current afflictions of the denizens of ICK island and routes around those afflictions to make them useful and valued members of the calculator community. Your task is to come up with your version of the route around the affliction/or deficiency. Be forewarned that there may be numerous alternative routes...Or so I'm told.
ICK is concerned with ALL of them so try them all out.
REMEMBER: The discarded calculator souls on ICK island are waiting for your heroic techniques to set them free to the consumer world. Good Luck.