4 - Finding the Salami Curve

Summary

The year is 20xy. Hockey fans throughout Manitoba are following the fortunes of the Winnipeg Gliders, the city's entry in the new, co-ed Intercontinental Hockey League. But things are not going well for the Gliders; the team is mired in last place, game attendance and revenues are down, and the owners of the Gliders are threatening to move the team to Buenos Aires, which desperately wants an ICHL franchise.

One morning you are sitting in the office of Math Iz Us (the small consulting firm that you and your two partners have recently opened after having difficulty finding satisfactory summer jobs) when the phone rings. On the line is Jacques Schtrop, the Gliders' coach.

“I think that we may have the solution to our team's problems!” he tells you. “We've just signed the young European superstar Tina Salami, and she'll be joining the team next week. According to our scouts she has a slapshot that's been clocked at 135 miles per hour. Even if she's far from the goal when she shoots, the puck travels so fast that the goalie doesn't have time to react before it's in the net. And if the poor guy happens to be in the way of the puck, it knocks him right into the net and follows him in. We've never seen anything like it!”