>>One entry read the numbers, calculated the answer in the normal way, and wrote the result to a file; the second entry spent most of its time asleep, but woke up briefly every few seconds and checked it the answer file existed. When it did, it printed it out.

Ага, называется стахановский метод. Надо посмотреть, что там за студент - наверняка из бывших соцстран...