Here is the preliminary round of the Sci-Tech quiz produced and presented by me and my partner, Ashwini. Top 8 teams made it to the finals. The cut-off was a rather low 8.

1. By-ADITYA SHEKHAR ACHARYA
ASHWINI KUMAR SAHAY

2. 
X is a company which came up with the K
series of processor (K signifying Kryptonite)
which had the power to kill the superman.
The Superman in this context being the
market leaders of processors-Y. Give me X
&Y.

3. 

X:AMD
Y:Intel

4. 
It was originally spun off from Acer in 2001 to
provide a separate branded channel. Its first
mobile phone was M775C and it has launched
8 new mobile phones till now ranging from
bar, clamshell to windows mobile. The slogan
of the company is “bringing enjoyment and
quality to life”.

5. 
BENQ- Bringing ENjoyment and Quality to
life

6. 
The pocket, the original, the revenge, the
professor’s, the void, the helicopter, skewb
and square one are increasingly difficult
variations of what?

8. Identify.

9. 
Michael Dell

10. 
Which place from the world of technology
bans tobacco, firearms, used
underwears, lottery tickets and over a
hundred such items?

11. 
E-Bay

12. Howard Eves, a Mathematical historian says
“X has the peculiar distinction of being the
mathematical problem for which the greatest
number of incorrect proofs have been
published”
Proofs for X submitted to the Wolfskehl
committee apparently constitute over 3
metres of stacked paper.


13. 
Fermat’s Last Theorem

15. 
Google +

16. Connect

19. 
A version of this operating system was released on
october 10, 2010. this departed from the traditional
schedule of releasing at the end of the october in
order to catch the perfect 10, and make a playful
reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to galaxy
boks, sice, in binary, 101010 equals decimal
42, “Answer to ultimate question of life, the universe
and everything.” The versions are generally
codenamed using an adjective and an animal. The OS
is named after a South African philosophy- “the belief
in a universal bond of sharing that connects all
humanity”.

20. 
Ubuntu

21. 
Though not an “environment” person, this
mathematician is credited for the discovery
of the green house effect. Expanding the heat
wave function in terms of sine and cosine and
calculating the size of earth which was so
close to sun he concluded it should have been
colder than it actually was. The idea spread
and greenhouse effect was confirmed.

22. 
Joseph Fourier

25. 
Android

26. Parody of which scientist?

28. 
Schrodinger

29. What is this xkcd section dedicated to?

31. Founders of what?

32. 
Instagram

33. _______________ is bonkers says the Belize Prime Minister
as this person was on the run after he was charged of
murder. When asked about the famous product he invented,
he said that he didn’t use it as it was annoying.
Which product is being talked about.

34. McAfee

35. What is being tested?

37. 
This word, derived from the latin genetive
plural form of ‘who’, refers to the minimum
numbers of members necessary for an
assembly to function. A similar but unrelated
words is the name of Palo Alto based website.
Give either word.

38. 
Quora

39. 
According to a study by Tom Chavez of
“Rapt”, what feature costs google $110
million a year.

40. 
I’m Feeling Lucky

41. 

The ever-ready mechanical pencil was
created by this company. The name of the
company bears a relation to this product of
theirs too.
Which company?

42. 
Sharp

43. 
Popular myths connect this ‘standard
industry practice’ to Abraham Lincoln, John F.
Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
Another popular myth says it represents a
positive expression. But insiders say that is
done to highlight manufacturer’s logo.
What standard practice?