On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 5:06 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of dwight via > cctalk >> Sent: 19 July 2018 22:17 >> To: Liam Proven <lpro...@gmail.com>; General Discussion: On-Topic and >> Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org> >> Subject: Re: GoTEK SFR1M44-U100... >> >> One thing that bothers me is the continued emphasis on arithmetic and not >> on mathematics. The kids growing up today will rarely be more than a few >> feet from a calculator. The first thing on the math test was the "No > calculator >> allowed". I'm not saying that they shouldn't be taught arithmetic but it > should >> be the minimum necessary to recreate a multiplication, square, divide or >> what ever table. Knowing what 43 * 67 is on an exam is useless in >> determining if the kid can learn calculus or understand how it relates to > the >> real world. > > All too often they put the numbers in blindly, mis-type, and get a silly > answer......
Or quote far too many significant figures. I had an idiot who was asking for a resistor accurate to 8 significant figures or something. Turned out it was the series resistor for an LED.... As I said, an idiot... > They need enough to know that the answer to that calculation will be > somewhere > between 2400 and 3500 and probably be able to tell me its likely to be near > 40 X 70... > > ... so take 43 + 5 * 67 > ... well the windows calculator gives 3216 in standard mode and 378 in > scientific mode.... Or I'm debugging something. I measure the voltage across a resistor as 13.7V. A check with the schematic or the colour bands on the resistor shows it's a 1.5k Ohm one. So I think 'That means there's a little under 10mA flowing, is that reasonable?'. To have to stop, type the numbers into a calculator and get 9.13333..mA would take longer and not tell me anything more in most cases. -tony
