Turns out that mathematics and real life are different.
Now I'm in a totally unfamiliar situation, faced with the same program but with wildly different variables, whole new parameters, and I don't quite know what to do. One of JQ's programming time bombs, in real life. And in real life there's no machine code.
So it seems that, what's left for me to do is to do what I always do: do what I think is right and hope I pass. And if I don't, well life goes on, right?