Re: Not Just the US With Education Problems

On Jun 8, 11:02�am, tgdenn...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Jun 8, 2:58�am, "Mike Dworetsky" <platinum...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:





"Paul J Gans" <g...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in messagenews:g2f2bi$87q$4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Walter Bushell <pr...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <6ask8qF38sc6...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"alwaysaskingquestions" <alwaysaskingquesti...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Some of it may have to do with personal inclination - I have always been
fascinated with both puzzles in general and with knowing how things
work; in
my first job - just before the introduction of desktop calculators - I
had
to learn how to use a slide rule and was thought it was a fantastic
invention.

Just how old are you. Frieden calculators from the styling my predate
WWII and maybe I.

The Friden calculator was in major use up through 1970. �I recall
doing the calculations for a paper on one in that year.

Fridens had 10 digit keyboards and the high end models could
automatically extract square roots of 20 digit numbers.

See <http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/fridenstw.html> for
a view of a late model.

I was at an advanced summer school for teens in 1961 and we had to do orbit
calculations with calculators (!). �During the course of the programme we
took delivery of the latest Friden calculator that could extract square
roots. �For amusement one day we tried taking concatenated square roots of a
number several times then squared it back up again. �And that's when we
learned a practical lesson about the meaning of precision and significant
digits in computations.

An excellent example. By removing the time, tediousness, and human
error associated with doing monkey-work �by hand, a far more expansive
lesson can be delivered. And that was with technology from almost 50
years ago.

-tg





We also used an early digital computer, the Bendix G-15, about the size of a
large freezer.

The mechanical calculator is arguably the finest example of the
mechanical engineer's art. �They were enormously complex
instruments powered by an electric motor. �The insides were
a three dimensional mass of gears, levers, cams, and whatnots.
The reference above shows some "inside" shots.

The pocket calculator killed them off fairly quickly.

--
� --- Paul J. Gans

--
Mike Dworetsky

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Which lesson will be lost if the students don't really understand
what's going on. To wit, a typical high school or college student (I
have done this experiment), will immediately reach for a calculator if
they are asked to compute the square root of 9.

.

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  • Re: Not Just the US With Education Problems
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  • Re: Not Just the US With Education Problems
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