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Re: Another Word For Linear?

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On 3/29/2017 10:34 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Mar 2017 18:38:17 -0700 (PDT), "nuny@bid.nes"
> <alien8752@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> While trying to explain the cause and your solution,
>> how do you describe it? I'm looking for colloquial
>> terms your average idiot in the street will grasp
>> intuitively.
>
> It might help if you spoke the customers dialect:
>
> "Your ear has a non-linear dynamic range of about 140dB.  Your volume
> control should do the same".

No, that's getting the customer to speak *your* dialect!

People are notoriously bad at gauging differences in "volume levels",
"light intensities" -- even speeds and weights (less so) WITHOUT some
numerical indicator that they can consult.

Tell the person closest to the "stereo" at a party that the music should
be "twice as loud".  What do you think he will do?  Move the volume
control from "3" to "6"?  What if the control isn't labeled?  Or, if there
are "VU" meters on the front panel?  Chances are, he'll just cautiously
bump it up and look back over at *you* for confirmation.

Likewise, tell someone to make the lights "twice as bright", etc.

They don't care about the resistance between the wiper and the end
terminal; or the overall gain; or the average voltage across the speaker;
or the current through the lamp filament; etc.  That just adds another
issue that you have to explain.

Even traveling on a roadway it's hard for folks to gauge their (instantaneous)
speed relative to some "reference" speed -- unless there is some "regular"
feature that they can observe in passing (e.g., the stripes on the roadway).

Instead, think of how an "average idiot in the street" would describe
the action (i.e., perceived results) of a "non-linear" control.  Then,
turn the description inside out for your "proper" control.

> "If you plant your boom box on your shoulder and aim the speaker into
> your ear, you don't want the tiny adjustment range to blow your ears
> out.  In order to spread out the range, the control has to be
> non-linear."
>
> "You have a cheap volume pot.  Buy my better one and it will adjust
> and sound more better."
>
>   Seems to be a broken pot.
>   Which looks to be quite shot.
>   For a small price,
>   it will sound nice,
>   and not cost you a lot.

"Can we make everything louder than everything else?"

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Another Word For Linear? "nuny@bid.nes" <alien8752@gmail.com> - 2017-03-29 18:38 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? eacaws@gmail.com - 2017-03-29 18:48 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? bill.sloman@ieee.org - 2017-03-29 18:50 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-03-29 19:22 -0700
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Larry Sheldon <lfsheldon@gmail.com> - 2017-03-30 00:45 -0500
      Re: Another Word For Linear? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-03-29 22:52 -0700
        Re: Another Word For Linear? Larry Sheldon <lfsheldon@gmail.com> - 2017-03-30 02:48 -0500
          Re: Another Word For Linear? bulegoge@columbus.rr.com - 2017-03-30 10:37 -0700
          Re: Another Word For Linear? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-03-30 12:47 -0700
            Re: Another Word For Linear? gray_wolf <g_wolf@nospam.com> - 2017-03-30 19:31 -0500
              Re: Another Word For Linear? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-03-30 18:19 -0700
            Re: Another Word For Linear? dagmargoodboat@yahoo.com - 2017-04-03 15:03 -0700
              Re: Another Word For Linear? krw@notreal.com - 2017-04-03 20:39 -0400
                Re: Another Word For Linear? dagmargoodboat@yahoo.com - 2017-04-05 11:03 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? tabbypurr@gmail.com - 2017-03-29 20:03 -0700
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.com> - 2017-03-29 22:17 -0500
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Clifford Heath <no.spam@please.net> - 2017-03-29 15:26 +1100
      Re: Another Word For Linear? tabbypurr@gmail.com - 2017-03-29 21:30 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? bitrex <bitrex@de.lete.earthlink.net> - 2017-03-30 00:16 -0400
    Re: Another Word For Linear? BM2335 <BM265@DMM.com.au> - 2017-03-30 12:18 +0800
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Clifford Heath <no.spam@please.net> - 2017-03-29 15:56 +1100
      Re: Another Word For Linear? bitrex <bitrex@de.lete.earthlink.net> - 2017-03-30 01:13 -0400
    Re: Another Word For Linear? krw@notreal.com - 2017-03-30 20:47 -0400
  Re: Another Word For Linear? Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> - 2017-03-29 22:34 -0700
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Larry Sheldon <lfsheldon@gmail.com> - 2017-03-30 00:48 -0500
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2017-03-30 00:06 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? Larry Sheldon <lfsheldon@gmail.com> - 2017-03-30 00:39 -0500
  Re: Another Word For Linear? Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2017-03-30 08:14 +0100
  Re: Another Word For Linear? djlocher56@gmail.com - 2017-03-30 04:41 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com> - 2017-03-30 16:47 -0500
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> - 2017-03-30 17:03 -0700
    Re: Another Word For Linear? Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2017-03-30 17:20 -0700
  Re: Another Word For Linear? John Fields <jfields@austininstruments.com> - 2017-03-30 19:23 -0500
  Re: Another Word For Linear? "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> - 2017-04-03 00:33 -0400

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