In college physics they made us do our homework using a 3DBSNUB format. I absolutely hated it until I finally understood the beauty of the method.
• D1 Draw, or sketch, the situation pertaining to the problem, using symbols to represent the various parameters (distances, masses, etc.). In the few cases for which a sketch is not pertinent write: "D1—". • D2 Define the known values. • D3 Describe (one line will do) what needs to be found in the sketched situation, and any assumptions you feel are necessary to render a solution possible (such as friction is negligible). • B List the Basic Equations which apply to the situation. Write the equations as they are written in the textbook. • S Derive an explicit Symbolic solution for each desired quantity, using the Basic Equations and the defined symbols. Units are not shown since the symbol represents the defined quantity including its units. This aspect makes the symbols easier to manipulate than the quantities they represent. This step is the heart of the solution and does not even involve a calculator! • N Substitute Numerical values, with units, for the symbols representing known quantities to obtain a Numerical solution. • U Check the Units to verify that they are proper and consistent. Do this by dimensional analysis i.e., reworking the equation with units only instead of numbers. (this is a fricken amazing way to find or check a solution, you just work it out so the input units and output units are proper and you are probably right) • B Check the numerical solution for "Ballpark" accuracy, i.e., is the answer reasonable? You may indicate that you believe it is by writing a check mark after the "B", or by "B ?" that you have no experience whatever that will relate to the calculated quantity. From: Ken Hohhof Sent: Monday, March 14, 2016 12:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT - Pi Day The ability to do rough estimates in your head seems like a lost art from the slide rule days. For rough estimate purposes, 22/7 is fine. Just like 1.4 is close enough to the square root of 2, if you’re estimating the distance as the crow flies to a customer 1 mile north and 1 mile west. With a calculator or computer, it is too easy to make monumental mistakes, which you can catch if you can do a rough estimate. Oh, right, I was supposed to put in the frequency in MHz, not GHz. One of the many useful things they apparently don’t teach in high school. Along with (apparently) civics and geography and how the Internet works. I had a college professor who would not give partial credit for “stupid answers”. So when calculating the range of a gun, if the correct answer is 1,389 feet, he might give you some points for 139 feet or 13,890 feet. But if you came up with 1,389,000 or 0.1389 feet and didn’t realize that was probably wrong and go back and check your math, no partial credit for you, it was a stupid answer. I also remember some test in high school, I think maybe the SAT, where there were a bunch of trig questions, and I hadn’t taken any trig classes. But they were multiple choice, and I was able to draw diagrams and make a rough estimate that in most cases let me pick the right answer from the list of choices. From: Jaime Solorza Sent: Monday, March 14, 2016 12:55 PM To: Animal Farm Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT - Pi Day Good old Spock making a computer fail by having it computer Pi to the last digit “the value of pi is a transcendental figure without resolution.” Jaime Solorza Wireless Systems Architect 915-861-1390 On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 11:44 AM, Jaime Solorza <[email protected]> wrote: Babylonians,Egyptians and Greeks ...25/8 and 22/7 Jaime Solorza Wireless Systems Architect 915-861-1390 On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 11:34 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: When I was a kid, my dad taught me PI was 22/7 as a fact. I later discovered not exactly... then I memorized a bunch of digits of it to “impress” girls. Not sure how impressive it ever was... From: Jaime Solorza Sent: Monday, March 14, 2016 11:17 AM To: Animal Farm Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT - Pi Day Yep pizza places are running specials. So is it still the Egyptians who discovered Pi or Ananuki or Indian mathematicians? On Mar 14, 2016 11:09 AM, "Ken Hohhof" <[email protected]> wrote: I didn't realize today was Pi Day 3/14/16 until I read this article: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/western-digital-offers-growing-raspberry-pi-community-new-314gb-drive-300235202.html
