Here's a bunch in the Smithsonian Collection. Grace Hopper used to hand them out at her talks...
https://americanhistory.si.edu/colle...ct/nmah_692464
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Here's a bunch in the Smithsonian Collection. Grace Hopper used to hand them out at her talks...
https://americanhistory.si.edu/colle...ct/nmah_692464
This actually explains a great deal about why my Son cannot understand fractions . . . Of all the things we should have embraced - the Metric system - should have been one of the most important - but no......
so thats how you figure metrick into inches... so... what about the female math& measurements??:rolleyes:
Actually the imperial system is one of the best ways to learn about fractions, UNLESS you have a teacher with a lack of understand of both measurement and fractions.
With the metric system you seldom use fractions since it is all decimal based.
What we really should have embraced is actual learning for understanding, not learning to regurgitate for a test, then forget about. It makes no difference if it is math, science, social studies, etc, you have to really learn it for it to stay with you.
yup, my math teachers were ****. and my ****ing dad with his knots & other **** just made it worse. I figured it out on my own. my senior year in HS I got suspended quite a few times by the math teacher...he was pissed that I knew more than he did....what a useless effing moron. he was some sorta coach that had to also teach math....he keep goi9ng to school to get more pay....but was totaly useless for any thing. ended up principle at one of my kids middle school...even the teachers were laughing at him . he did nothing all day long but collect a big pay check and look stupid. he then ran for school board...and yup he got it. those useless deplomas from the fly by knight schools are good for something...good for screweing over the people that really work and know what they are doing.
I hear you Mark. I worked with some of those people. MANY teachers are good, creative and committed to helping kids learn. Others are just in it for the money and summers off. TOO MANY times, those bad teachers do not like it in the classroom, so they become administrators.
It is bad, and getting worse. I have to say there are still more good teachers, than there are bad ones. A real issue is that one bad teacher can undo many years of ground work done by the good teachers.
Sorry for your bad experience. I really did love teaching. I still bump into former students who say, "Hi do you remember me".
Wow, I just waded through 26 pages of this thread before I got bored (not punched or reamed). I agree the question of metickery is contentious, and my two hap'th are these,first I use what ever measurement is closest to what I want when I'm working with wood. Because I was dragged up using imperial measure, I use thou's for anything more accurate, half an apple is still 1/2 an apple (one of two) freight still use that system (crate 5 of 20).
There is one bone of contention however with imperial measure (feet and inches), you never got the "magic 100 mm error". How this works is measure out to 1500mm, then BACK 60mm to get 1560, yeh I know, crazy, but it happens, probably because you can readily SEE the 60 close to where you're already measuring, resulting in a 100 mm error, with feet, that would be so far out that you notice it.
I'mm OFF now!
yes there are many good teachers still out there, fortunately for me, being a airforce brat I get to move around a lot, and see & live in parts of asia, okinawa as a young teenager was awesome. I did get to choose the best of everywhere I had been , it was the last place we lived when dad retired and he left home...for a few years working for lockheed cheif of training in saudi .and I chose to stay hear to live,buy a home, race,start a family and raise my kids. and even better the teachers my kids had were totally awesome. 1 daughter a DR,(also married to DR) and the other a US state dept diplomat over seas now. I did have a few good teachers but I had more usleess ones than good ones. ( the DOD school,s on okinawa were pretty good,public not so good, only a few teachers that gave a ****.) but parenting also has a lot to do with it also....probably50- 80 %. depending on the teachers and situations. if you dont give a **** about your kid that probably wont either.....
Give me two orders of whatever he was drinkin' please... I'm trying to solve a problem.... :)
That looks a little bit creepy. I have to see if my dog can do that!!!
Fahrenheit is very cool...
Reminds me of certain 80's era female portraits; ol' Fahrenheit strikes extreme version of high school yearbook photo.
We called [derided] it Pro-vanity.
Was "Rankine" so ashamed he ran away before the shutter snapped?
I'll never forgive old Fahrenheit.
If you're a scientist and you are defining a standard, you should attempt to make the standard something that can be accurately reproduced locally. Now, in temperature the two widely available points are freezing and boiling water.
So what does the dummy, Danny F, do? He uses a mix of water, ice, and a salt, to set the zero point. (Now the guy trying to calibrate his homemade thermometer has to determine type of salt, mixture proportions, etc..- all sources of error.) Then he sets an upper point as human body temperature! (Yeah, now there's a nice stable temperature.) Finally, he defines the freezing point of water as 32. With this wonky arrangement, the boiling point comes in at 212.
I won't forgive Fahrenheit but I'd willingly crucify Rankine.
It's 1859 and the concept of absolute zero exists. In thermodynamics, it makes sense to define temperatures relative to a zero set at that point. Baron Kelvin, also a Scot, did that and logically used the Celsius degree (based on freezing water zero and boiling 100) in his scale. Rankine, on the other hand, used the Farenheit degree thus propagating the use of that abomination.
just good ole MT dew!!! diet of coarse. I just noticed with that last pic, to me, that kelvin looks Scottish, Celsius looks roman, and Fahrenheit looks German....but I have no dog in this hunt so Ill just watch and see what works for me.
In outback Queensland, temp is decided more easily. Go outside in the morning and you can see your breath,......"it's bloody cold!
sweat your tits of all day,........."Jeez, it's bloody hot!" anything else, any time, is just inconvenient, or otherwise, according to your particular temperament at any given moment.
I get a kick out of Mr. K's special treatments on history + effects on science in general. Hilarious 5 minute theses [plural according to google], and funnier yet to imagine him going back in those era presenting pro and con arguments. They wouldn't stand a chance, lol, against his reports on the result of their folly.
Not to linger afterward, want him definitely returned.
But he could stop off for a king-ship, know he'd enjoy that.
Just wait till you hear my redesign of the criminal justice system. :-)
Lord Kelvin was a salty old bastard. His best quote, a favorite of mine (on my coffee mug) is:
"In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting."
Of course, he had his off days, and was dumb enough to vocalize his screwups...
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
"There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement."
"When you are face to face with a difficulty, you are up against a discovery."
re criminal justice; thinking many here have similar outlines, and close to what is on the books of certain locations.
They just haven't the juice to enact them.
Especially when herding the lawful is SO much easier.
Far as the other quotes, is not being faced with difficulty a step from discovery? A lot more accurate than impossibility of flight or peak of physics being attained.
Geology Rocks. Geography is where it's at...
Best, most accurate weather reporter was on my grandfather's garage. It was a board with a donkey's a$$ painted on it and a rope nailed where the tail would be. Underneath it read " If the tail is moving, it's windy. If the tail is wet, it's raining. If the tail is stiff, it's freezing. If the tail is white, it's snowing and if the tail is hot it's sunny."
speaking of geography... so...there are 360 degrees around the earth...is that kelvin?Celsius? fair&high? or.....:hattip: just wondering
No question that form weather recording is highly reliable.
Until recently (decade or so) weather predictions not all that reliable, accessible or so easy zeroing in other locations. I regard that a plus, including the app, a zillion times better streamlining than the regular web. Some used to be good, all became too commercialized.
If you want to see what the planet-wide conditions are, this...
https://earth.nullschool.net/#curren...118.380,33.790
is a fascinating toy to explore.
I did, not a familiar site but messed with the conversions and report modes. Nothing short of astounding.
You notice CA quake activity? No, just shuffling around of Earths' rotation, put it back when I was done.
The Earth has been quaking around here a lot lately...
Nautical miles are one of the few "trade" units that makes some real common sense.
The generally accepted average* radius of the earth is 3959 miles = 3440 nautical miles.
The average circumference is 2*pi times this value = 21616 nm.
The circumference includes an angle of 360*60 = 21600 arcminutes.
So dividing we have 21616/21600 = 1.0008 nm/arcmin, an extremely convenient result for a navigator working with charts calibrated in angles.
--
* The earth is an oblate spheroid due to its rotation so the radius is not constant.
And a Knot is distance over time...
Marv's right [as if...lol] about nautical mile, though it's not historically clear how they arrived on that figure with combination of good mathematics and former state of the art instrumentation. But our degrees working in divisible 60's falls right in with all of it.
Side note. Ancient Greeks had no [known] practical use of navigation beyond coastal, sailing from landmark to landmark. But they proved quite accurately Earth was spherical, misshaped or not, and Equator within ~800 miles of actual. It wasn't until fuzzy theology aberration of science manipulated the truth, even support to flat earth nonsense. I digress.
Back on course, All Ahead 2/3rd.
In daily use a nautical mile is rounded to 6000 feet for the best reason of all. It's fastest possible mental calculation of speed and distance, awfully handy when the course of vessels will cross or be head-on, to avert collisions. So plot of voyage could utilize correct distance to figure arrivals, and divert to 6000 if need arise.
Quite similar to when you set alarm clock to wake, allowing morning routine and work commute, and expected arrival time.
At sea, known as 'DR' or Dead Reckoning. Prudent masters verify actual position with prediction AND previous coordinates, often at each half-hour. It shows headway [speed], drift [off course], set [off course by wind and/ or current]. Of three components [Time, Speed, Distance] any two arrive at the answer.
I saw this manifest last weekend, driving south out of Nebraska. We've all chimed in about systems of measurement; which includes something aside from accuracy, that of interpretation. In some ways, Time, Speed, Distance are subjective on their own, perhaps "we're hungry, they close at midnight." "Well, this jalopy only goes 55 mph." "Oh no, it's 60 miles away."
Q. Will you make it? ?...........
A. (what time is it?)
Attachment 39747
Even better, saw this, should have pulled over for a picture. Many of our highways have travel stops; catering to over-the-road truckers, road-trippers, traveling families on vacation, and single guys hauling machinery...
A sign for the next one said "41 miles; that's 287 dog miles."
Handy, as I was already channeling my inner dog.
Attachment 39748
Scientifically speaking, unsure 7:1 works on that guy. He's crazy about going along for rides; any chance he bolts through house door, he becomes a concrete statue until car door opens, no way getting him back indoors.
4 or 5 laps around the block will not trick him.
Had me a dog. Anytime I would rustle anywhere except to the kitchen or the bedroom, that dog was a statue by the door and facing outside. No ask. No refuse. 100* outside or 0*. If it was time, that dog was ready. Good dog, too. She wouldn't let anything near her car. I offered a ride to a hitchhiker without asking the dog. At the door to the pickup, the hitchhiker wisely declined the ride when he saw all the slobber on the passenger window. She tried to add toothmarks, but she couldn't get her mouth over the glass. Boy was she loud about it. hee-hee
My windows; nose prints out number drools 5:1. A bit oily, so removal a bit harder.
I put off cleanings [advantage of a 4-door] and complain kindheartedly.
Right now, sitting in my easy chair with laptop. He's on floor, head and neck draped over my booted instep.
I'll buy all the window cleaner and paper towels required.
This thread about the dogs is the first I saw this morning. Just got up. Silly dog knew it was time. I was planning to sleep in a little this morning. She knows the routine, get up, check emails, got for a walk, then get started working.
Right now she is laying beside me, between me and the door. After I write this, we will go for a walk. During the day she "hunts" around the property keeping it clear of anything she does not like around. Geese, crows, buzzards are chased from our air space. Hawks she does not bother. We have no ground hogs or skunks, etc. We do have a couple fox which she tries to catch, fun to watch that, but I do hope she does not catch one of those.
She also loves to ride, "lets got for a ride" or just the word "truck" brings her to attention and she is ready to do. One day, while working outside, she disappeared. I called and called, was getting mad as I had to get going. I had left the door open to the truck, she was in her spot, "smiling" like they do. I figure she was thinking, "stop whistling for me and lets get going." Now when I am working outside, I leave the doors open so she can rest in there when she is done hunting.
Right now she is starting to squirm, looking at me with that "lets get going" face. Funny how well they train us to do what they want!!
If you divide 2*pi*3959*5280 (circumference of earth in feet) by 21600 arcmin, you get a value for a nautical mile of 6080... ft. The official value is 6076... ft.
Back in the day when I was helping to target ICBMs, we would occasionally encounter data expressed in nautical miles and had to convert it so the latter figure is burned into my brain. It's low on my list of things I wish I could forget but it's still there.
For TLAR purposes, a nice round 6000 is good enough.
O come on Noah, you were given them before anything else!