Donald Trump’s Covfefe makes it to ISI Kolkata question paper; we are not kidding

Students at Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata were in for some amusement when they found the word covfefe in their question paper. (Source: Grieve Chelwa/Twitter)

On May 31, at around midnight, US President Donald Trump had tweeted something that would later take social media by storm. His tweet read, “Despite the constant negative press covfefe” and for days after that, people on social media spent staggering amount of time and energy trying to unravel the meaning of the word “covfefe”. The word now has made its way in a question paper in one India’s most premier institutes, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Yes, you read that right.

The second year students of the Master of Statistics program at ISI Kolkata found a rather interesting question. In their paper on Martingale Theory there was a question that read “Mr. Trump decides to post a random message on Facebook and he starts typing a random sequence of letters {U_k}_k≥1  such that they are chosen independently and uniformly from the 26 possible english alphabets. Find out the expected time of the first appearance of the word COVFEFE.” Some students from the institute confirmed the question and it goes without saying that it has left both students and people on social media in splits.  The humour in the question can hardly be missed as pictures of the question paper is now being widely shared on social media.  While one user wrote, Haha, “it’s a good question though. Probability joins Politics ;)” others have been trying to answer it.

This is the question.

LOL. Today’s exam at the Indian Statistical Institute. See Qn 5. pic.twitter.com/TrHHpyGCCP

— Grieve Chelwa (@gchelwa) December 1, 2017

This is how people reacted to it.

You got the question right Abdullah, but what’s the solution?? Anyone answered??

— Prince Zuko (@sriharshakb) December 3, 2017

I can’t get it. Is there any way I can report it as offensive to my intellect? 😛😛😛

If you have time, please lemme know how the denominator 1/ 26^7 is derived?? 🙏🙏

— Prince Zuko (@sriharshakb) December 3, 2017

Trick question, @realDonaldTrump uses Twitter

— Roger That (@ThatArtfulRoger) December 2, 2017

I didn’t know English has more than one alphabet, let alone 26 of them.

— Snarky Cyclist (@SnarkyCyclistAB) December 2, 2017

Haha, it’s a good question though. Probability joins Politics ;)

— Barsha Panda (@BarshaPanda) December 3, 2017

That. Is. Amazing! #Covfefe

— Joey Mattingly (@joeymattingly) December 2, 2017

Some even praised the professor for this witty question.

All credit goes to Professor Rajat Subhra Hazra of ISI Kolkata. We did nothing in this :)

— Kaabira. (@KaabiraSpeaking) December 3, 2017

😂😂😂😂😂 that’s awesome!!!

— Comrade Balding (@BaldingsWorld) December 3, 2017

Indianexpress.com has reached out to the authorities for their comment and is awaiting their response.