I had just sent USMA 8702 before receiving your USMA 8701. I realize it is not an absolutely perfect conversion, but 63/64 of 25.4 is 25.003125. I'm sure my recipients had not a clue what I was driving at either. Self-question: What in the world did my term "virtually exactly" mean? Norm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ma Be" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 2000October22 13:21 Subject: [USMA:8701] Re: Impact of mathmatics education on total education > Dear Norm, > > I apologize for my earlier comments below. I didn't realize you were comparing mm dimensions with their inch-equivalents, my mistake (but then again, this wasn't that clear from your message...). However, *even* if you included the extra digit as in, for instance, 1/8 and 3.2, the metric side would still come out as a winner (as far as ease of calc is concerned). > > Careful though about the propagation of calculation errors here! If the original scenario was like hard ifp the more calcs one does with the metric equivalents, the more errors can propagate, as these values in metric would always be rounded. > > Marcus > > On Sun, 22 Oct 2000 10:00:24 Ma Be wrote: > >One other "problem" I saw with this exercise was the considerable "skewness" between them. In order for it to be "fairer" you would have to use a similar # of digits for both of them, e.g. if you say 1/16, you should counter with, say, 243 (or 14, whatever), or something to that effect. > > > >Marcus > > > >On Fri, 20 Oct 2000 11:55:48 James R. Frysinger wrote: > >>I don't know who was addressed in your original message, Norm, but I > >>presume it was some official in DeKalb County's school administration. > >> > >>You inadvertently (perhaps) provided a very simple exercise in the first > >>step. The sum is 63/64 because the series is > >>1/64+2/64+4/64+8/64+16/64+32/64 which is (2^7-1)/64. Another way of > >>looking at it is that by adding an additional 1/64 to the stack and then > >>accumulating upwards, one has 64/64 from which the temporary 1/64 must > >>now be subtracted, leaving 63/64. > >> > >>Jim > >> > >>Norman Werling wrote: > >>> > >>> Gentlemen: > >>> > >>> I am an age 64 registered voter living in Georgia House District 64. I am > >>> vitally interested in the education of DeKalb's children as well as that of > >>> my grandchildren who all live elsewhere but mostly in Georgia. > >>> > >>> I would ask both of you to humor me and complete the following exercise. > >>> Then do me the honor of replying with total honesty and without any > >>> preconceived notions. Agreed? > >>> > >>> Step one is to add the following: > >>> 1/64 > >>> 1/32 > >>> 1/16 > >>> 1/8 > >>> 1/4 > >>> 1/2 > >>> ------- > >>> > >>> ------- > >>> > >>> How long did it take you to add them.? ___minutes and___seconds. > >>> > >>> Do not scroll down further until you have done the problem and answered the > >>> question with your best recollection of the time needed to answer. Be fair > >>> now! > >>> > >>> Now add the following: > >>> 1 > >>> 2 > >>> 4 > >>> 5 > >>> 6 > >>> 7 > >>> ----- > >>> > >>> ----- > >>> > >>> How long did it take you to add them? _____minutes and _____seconds. > >>> Do not scroll down until you have done the problem and answered the question > >>> with your best recollection about the time needed to answer. Be fair now! > >>> > >>> After you have done both and filled in the blanks, just hit "reply" and send > >>> it back to me. Then we can talk about it via email or telephone, whichever > >>> you prefer. > >>> > >>> Thank you for participating, > >>> > >>> Norman V. Werling > >>> 1240 Hunters Drive > >>> Stone Mountain, GA 30083-2545 > >>> 404-292-9328 > >> > >>-- > >>Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" > >>James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ > >>10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789 > >> > >> > > > > > >Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com > > > > > > > Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com >
