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Groups > rec.arts.sf.written > #424228
| Newsgroups | rec.arts.sf.written, sci.physics |
|---|---|
| From | djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) |
| Subject | Re: green stars |
| Message-ID | <nvsyo0.yCL@kithrup.com> (permalink) |
| Date | 2015-10-06 14:24 +0000 |
| References | <560E3D7D.3AA6@ix.netcom.com> <PM0005215B50CBB539@aca40732.ipt.aol.com> <nvr4p3.1C3I@kithrup.com> <PM0005216FEF28A86B@aca41669.ipt.aol.com> |
| Organization | Kithrup Enterprises, Ld. |
Cross-posted to 2 groups.
In article <PM0005216FEF28A86B@aca41669.ipt.aol.com>, jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> wrote: >Dorothy J Heydt wrote: >> In article <PM0005215B50CBB539@aca40732.ipt.aol.com>, >> jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> wrote: >>>Dorothy J Heydt wrote: >>>> In article <PM00052148602F2733@aca41f97.ipt.aol.com>, >>>> jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> wrote: >>>>>Dorothy J Heydt wrote: >>>>>> In article <mur018$5ei$1@panix3.panix.com>, >>>>>> William December Starr <wdstarr@panix.com> wrote: >>>>>>>In article <nvnzI5.15Dv@kithrup.com>, >>>>>>>djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) said: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I managed to get an A in my one physics course (Physics 10, aka >>>>>>>> Bonehead Physics), but I do not understand anything past Newton. >>>>>>>> I haven't had to. I take it on faith. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>Did you drop a '1' off the end of that, or was the course really >>>>>>>"Physics [ten]?" >>>>>> >>>>>> Yes. >>>>>> >>>>>> Its official title, I think, was "physics for Humanities Majors". >>>>>> Everybody enrolled in the College of Letters and Sciences, who >>>>>> wasn't actually majoring in a science, had to take it. In a >>>>>> similar way, those majoring in math or sciences, if they couldn't >>>>>> pass a basic entrance exam in written English (in which case >>>>>> they'd take the standard lower-division English courses like the >>>>>> rest of us) would take English 10, which of course was called >>>>>> Bonehead English. >>>>>> >>>>>> Mind you, this was nearly sixty years ago; I don't know what they >>>>>> do now. >>>>>> >>>>>When I went to college, we were required to take an Honors Physics >>>>>course which was real physics without using calculus. The art >>>>>majors were not interested in the course until they figured out >>>>>it helped them with their art which was mostly drawing and >>>>>painting. >>>> >>>> We did not, thank heaven, have to use calculus. Just algebra. >>>> At which I was not very good either. >>>> >>>> I know I've told this story before, but it's been a while. If >>>> you remember it from last time, hit 'n' now. >>>> >>>> I was living in a rooming house where we did our own cooking. >>>> There was a kitchen on the ground floor and another (small) >>>> kitchen on the third floor, where I lived. One of my housemates >>>> was not only taking Physics 10 when I was, but we had the same >>>> section with the same TA. So we got the same problem sets, which >>>> the TA handed out at the Tuesday section and got back at the >>>> Thursday section. >>>> >>>> So every Wednesday evening she and I would settle down in the >>>> third-floor kitchen and do the problem sets. She had, and knew >>>> how to use, a slide rule. I didn't. >>>> >>>> So we would both read the problem, and I would set up the >>>> equation, and she would solve it with her slide rule. We would >>>> thus have exactly the same answers on our problem sets, and get >>>> the same grades on them. We got some credit toward our final >>>> grade from the problem sets, more from the midterm, and a lot >>>> more from the final. >>>> >>>> Came the final, and we were put into a much larger room than we'd >>>> taken the class in, so we could be separated from one another by >>>> several seats; standard procedure. Memory tells me now that >>>> there were several hundred problems to solve; it was probably >>>> more like 100. And there I sat, with no slide rule, just basic >>>> arithmetic, at which I have always stunk. (And there were no >>>> electronic calculators, back in the early 1950s.) >>>> >>>> After a moment of despair, I reasoned, "Well, this is a physics >>>> class, not a math class, so if I set up all the equations and >>>> then solve as many as there's time for by brute force and scratch >>>> paper, I'll get at least partial credit." So I did that. >>> >>>That's how engineers do it :-). Crunching numbers is left >>>as an exercise for computers. I always thought that computers >>>were invented so engineers didn't have to do arithmetic. ;-) >> >> Well, the *original* intention was so that US Army artillery >> personnel didn't have to use arithmetic. > >They had tables. I had the thought when I was taking a class >in circuit analysis; it was a humorous thought which got me >through the problem sets. That class banned use of the >programming functions of calculators so all calculations had >to be done "by hand". At least the idiot instructor didn't >insist on banning calculators. He gave a final which took him >3 hours to complete (he had a computer to help) but we only >had 2 hours for the class. Then he had the balls to grade >on the basis of right/wrong numerical answer, not the set up >of the problems. > >>> >>>> I got >>>> maybe halfway through the arithmetic by time's end. Meanwhile, >>>> my housemate was doing whatever she did, armed with her slide >>>> rule. >>>> >>>> Came the final, I got an A, she got a C. >>> >>>It's interesting how diffeent approaches to the same problems >>>produce different results. >> >> I can only assume that because I did the setting-up, she didn't >> get enough practice in that. A lesson to all of us, I guess. > >She probably had problems w.r.t. setup. There are tasks which >require predetermined step-by-step operation so she would have >been good at doing that work but would have had you climbing >walls and trying to find short-cuts, which was not part of the >task :-). > >Based on your approach to doing work, you might enjoy reading >_Boyd_ by Robert Coram. Bookmarked; my husband will probably be more interested than I would; but it's cheap used from Amazon, so maybe sometime. Thanks. -- Dorothy J. Heydt Vallejo, California djheydt at gmail dot com Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress. Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.
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green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-02 01:17 -0700
Re: green stars Yousuf Khan <bbbl67@spammenot.yahoo.com> - 2015-10-02 14:40 -0400
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-02 22:18 +0000
Re: green stars Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-02 16:02 -0700
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-03 02:29 +0000
Re: green stars Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-02 22:29 -0700
Re: green stars Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> - 2015-10-03 23:49 -0300
Re: green stars "Mike Dworetsky" <platinum198@pants.btinternet.com> - 2015-10-04 08:48 +0100
Re: green stars Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 11:07 -0500
Re: green stars "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-04 12:50 -0400
Re: green stars Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 10:54 -0700
Re: green stars "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 13:21 -0400
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Re: green stars Stumpy <perilmung@spamnet.con> - 2015-10-05 13:39 -0700
Re: green stars Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2015-10-08 20:27 -0700
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Re: green stars "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-09 19:28 -0400
Re: green stars wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-09 21:05 -0400
Re: green stars "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2015-10-09 21:42 -0400
Re: green stars "John F. Eldredge" <john@jfeldredge.com> - 2015-10-10 16:55 +0000
Re: green stars "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2015-10-04 09:27 -0400
Re: green stars William Vetter <mdhangton@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 16:45 -0400
Re: green stars Yousuf Khan <bbbl67@spammenot.yahoo.com> - 2015-10-03 17:40 -0400
Re: green stars Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-03 14:51 -0700
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-03 21:54 +0000
Re: green stars Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-03 17:24 -0700
Re: green stars wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-04 06:46 -0400
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-04 13:15 +0000
Re: green stars jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-10-04 14:27 +0000
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-04 16:53 +0000
Re: green stars jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-10-05 13:02 +0000
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-05 14:39 +0000
Re: green stars jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-10-06 13:34 +0000
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-06 14:24 +0000
Re: green stars jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-10-07 13:18 +0000
Re: green stars Yousuf Khan <bbbl67@spammenot.yahoo.com> - 2015-10-07 19:27 -0400
Re: green stars "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-07 19:43 -0400
Re: green stars Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-08 01:58 -0600
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-08 01:11 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-08 13:49 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-08 21:20 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-09 22:04 -0700
Re: green stars Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2015-10-10 11:49 -0700
Re: green stars hamish.laws@gmail.com - 2015-12-05 02:32 -0800
Re: green stars wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-08 08:19 -0400
Re: green stars Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-09 00:10 -0600
Re: green stars William Vetter <mdhangton@gmail.com> - 2015-10-09 13:19 -0400
Re: green stars wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-09 21:27 -0400
Re: green stars Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-10 20:12 -0600
Re: green stars hamish.laws@gmail.com - 2015-12-05 02:22 -0800
Re: green stars Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2015-12-05 10:52 -0600
Re: green stars Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-12-05 10:42 -0700
Re: green stars "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-12-05 13:02 -0500
Re: green stars Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2015-12-05 11:33 -0800
Re: green stars Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-12-05 15:00 -0800
Re: green stars Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-12-06 01:56 -0700
Re: green stars Lofty Goat <rlwatkins@gmail.com> - 2015-10-05 19:08 -0500
Re: green stars Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2015-10-05 17:20 -0700
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-06 01:09 +0000
Re: green stars "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-05 22:21 -0400
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-06 02:33 +0000
Re: green stars "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-05 23:03 -0400
Re: green stars Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2015-10-05 22:03 -0700
Re: green stars Wayne Brown <fwbrown@bellsouth.net> - 2015-10-08 19:38 +0000
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-08 22:19 +0000
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-08 16:14 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-08 16:16 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-08 19:33 -0700
Re: green stars "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-08 21:36 -0400
Re: green stars djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-10-09 04:19 +0000
Re: green stars Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2015-10-08 22:51 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-09 11:12 -0700
Re: green stars scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2015-10-09 14:05 +0000
Re: green stars "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-08 18:57 -0400
Re: green stars jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-10-06 13:34 +0000
Re: green stars Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 10:57 -0700
Re: green stars "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-04 10:41 -0400
Re: green stars wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-04 13:43 -0400
Re: green stars wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-02 22:38 -0400
Re: green stars Yousuf Khan <bbbl67@spammenot.yahoo.com> - 2015-10-03 17:37 -0400
Re: green stars Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-03 14:52 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-05 01:17 -0700
Re: green stars Yousuf Khan <bbbl67@spammenot.yahoo.com> - 2015-10-05 14:04 -0400
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-05 12:58 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-05 23:52 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-06 10:24 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-06 12:35 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-06 15:15 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-06 15:31 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-06 23:12 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-06 23:34 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-07 00:49 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-08 21:24 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-05 01:39 -0700
Re: green stars The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-10-05 01:55 -0700
Re: green stars Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2015-10-08 20:31 -0700
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