Subj : packets To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Sat Apr 11 2020 09:14:00 Hi Nancy! NB>>> only two numbers, I can generally do six or so figures still... lined NB>>> up vertically is also important... :) For those long columns of NB>>> numbers, I'll do it all pencil and paper, and then check my sum with NB>>> the calculator.... I figure it's good mental exercise to do as much as NB>>> possible manually... :) BM>> It is, and I'll admit to reaching for the calculator too often: more BM>> out of uncertainty. When going through school they started me with the BM>> "Old Math" and then switch to the "New Math". NB>> When I was in maybe 9th or 10th grade, we had a math teacher that NB>> decided we should have some exposure to the "new math"... but at least NB>> he was careful to keep from confusing us with it... and it became more NB>> of another math tool for us.... BM> As an additional tool probably would have been fine for me but BM> apparently my "new math" was a replacement and undermined what I had BM> learned with the "old math". Anyway, the good news is I generally BM> catch math errors: doing my beginning of the month payments. Either BM> mis-keyed or mis-remembered an entry and when I listed the running BM> total in my credit card journal thought "that's not right". Check: the BM> entry was wrong. NB> It's good to have a mental check running in the background to NB> catch when things don't make sense... ;) True! Saves problems later! BM>> I don't remember what the differences are but do know it confused me BM>> and while I was decent with the Old Math the 'conversion' broke the BM>> rules and I never quite unscrambled them. Can do math manually, and BM>> do, just certain number combinations seem to not quite click. NB>> As I recall, it was adding into the mix things like algebra and NB>> geometry, but not calling them that, just throwing in the concepts NB>> that were supposed to help one understand how adding and subtracting NB>> and multiplying and dividing related to each other.... for some it was NB>> just another layer of MISunderstanding.... What comes to mind for me NB>> is a partly remembered Tom Lehrer song about the "New-ew-ew Math", a NB>> very humorous take on the confusions it generated in young (and not NB>> so young) minds about math.... BM> I must have been one of those confused characters in the song! I did BM> do fairly well in algebra, etc. Didn't take too much 'advanced' math BM> as didn't need to go that deep/'complex'. NB> I eventually went as far as DiffEQ (Differential Equations, but NB> we'd also call them difficult equations) in college after a few NB> quarters of calculus... but then at the time I was a chemistry NB> and then a physics major.... Didn't stay with either one, NB> though.... Chemistry and Physics use a lot of math; research can too, just plotting out can get mathemetically complex. ...I'm getting into an area I know nothing about so coming out with Mr. Obvious type replies. BM>> OTOH have also used the calculator and realized the answer displayed BM>> doesn't seem right so there is some sort of mental calculating going on. NB>> Which is what my Physics professor Daddy used to refer to as the common NB>> sense factor.... paying attention to whether or not the calculator's NB>> answer made any sense.... did you forget a decimal point, or add one NB>> too early...? Or did you transpose numbers while inputting them...? NB>> I always do it both ways, whichever I do first... and use the one to NB>> check the other... and if they don't agree, do them both again to NB>> find where the glitch is.... :) BM> Your father had a good name for the process! Just because a machine BM> says so, or even someone else, doesn't absolutely mean it's BM> correct/truthful. NB> Exactly... :) Some things are very yes/no, true/false, work/won't work and no matter how much one tries to get around won't alter. Other the premise is wrong but has been accepted as true and can be so can 'altered' -- really is the first one, just had the wrong information. BM>> ... Math problems? Call 1-800-[(10x)(13i)2]-[sin(xy)/2.362x] NB>> Speaking of the new-ew-ew math... BM> Do the innermost set first.... And if takes too long just call BM> Directory Assistance! NB> But there's those letters, and that sin(e) of something.... even NB> the calculator can't handle all of that... I have a calculator which indicates it can, or at least some of it. I have no idea how to operate that portion of it; I bought the calculator because it had a 'rubout' key so instead of erasing the entire entry I could delete just the erroneous button-push. NB> ... Of people born in 1839, 100% who ate carrots are dead! BM> That seems proof enough carrots are bad for you!! NB> Faulty reasoning, just like one might do with the below.... ;) NB> ... 100% of people who breathe die. Stop breathing and save yourself!! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Most of the stuff people worry about isn't going to happen anyway. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .