Re: New jim beam claims

Tim McNamara wrote:
In article <rubrum-7200BE.23410120092007@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Michael Press <rubrum@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <timmcn-AFE998.12055220092007@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Tim McNamara <timmcn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <1190291557.769429.23980@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
peteymills@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Sep 19, 1:32 am, jobst.bra...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Don't reveal that you didn't take advantage of higher education. What one should learn in those years is WHY rather than how. Mechanics work on machines daily and know how to make them work, but don't understand the science behind those failures... as we see here often enough.

While working in Stuttgart, an NSU Wankel drove into our research yard as we looked down from the design office. I said at that time: "Mark my words, that engine will not survive on the market." to the amazement of my colleagues, all engineers of one ilk or another. I could say that because I had been exposed to the theory of operation of internal combustion engines, a dull subject to most auto aficionados but well worth the time.

Unfortunately, today the rush to "get on with reality" has shifted the emphasis to a trade school approach, spending much time on current hardware.

It makes a difference. The theory offered in good engineering schools is worth a lot and experience reinforces those principals. I have come across many of these instances in my work. For instance,the failures of the Shay steam locomotive was never understood in more than 100 years of service, yet it jumped out at me when reviewing derailment pictures and reading about them, so I wrote about it:

http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/grd_loco.html

Jobst Brandt
This example doesn't seem to rely too much on theory and could easily be diagnosed by someone with good practical knowledge and no formal training. Intelligent people can pick up theory just as they can pick up practical knowledge.
You're talking about people being able to apply inductive versus deductive reasoning. Unfortunately we do not require taking a class in logic in order to graduate from high school (IMHO the single biggest improvement we could make to our educational system is to teach logic). Unless the "intelligent person" has an understanding of how different types of logic work, they have a high risk of coming to an erroneous conclusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_reasoning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_reasoning

(interestingly enough, the latter article is not as well written).

In the case of engineering, knowing the principles can significantly speed up analysis and can reduce the number of trial-and-error iterations needed in product development.
I support teaching Euclidean plane geometry. One of the necessary skills constructing mathematical proofs is suspicion of ones own devices. We learn to doubt every step of our proposed proof. It is humbling to see how puny one's own abilities are. Euclidean plane geometry teaches how to construct a logical, articulated argument. Once a student can find his own logical fallacies, finding them in the arguments of others is free. The benefit of geometry over a logic course is that geometry brings geometric figures into it and they are worth studying in and of themselves.

While that is true, the difficulty is in making sure that the students understand that this is logical analysis and not just math problems. This is something my high school math teachers failed to do in my algebra, geometry and advanced algebra/trigonometry classes. I got more of the sense of the broader implications of those processes elsewhere.

er, i don't think you did - 1600 !> 5000!


I think that a class in formal logic would be (1) simpler and (2) more likely to be generalized by the average student.

nothing that basic math wouldn't teach first.
.

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