I read the whole Higher Grade Paper (when it made the Scottish News last week) to discover just how much I have forgotten since I left school.
I know enough to know that I used to be able to answer all of that.
Now I'm only any good at arithmetic.
I know enough to know that I used to be able to answer all of that.
Now I'm only any good at arithmetic.
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They banged it into our heads in high school (mandatory public education, the 4 years before University): At a minimum or a maximum, the derivative is zero. Therefore to solve optimization, minimization, maximization problems, set the derivative equal to zero and solve for x.
We folded cardboard rectangles into boxes-of-maximum-volume dozens of times, found the minimum diameter 100-foot-long wire that could just barely support its own weight plus 5 pounds, and other similar schoolboy optimization problems. Relentless repetition. This problem would have been yet another ho-hum, please-not-this-again turn of the crank: Find the value of x which minimizes T(x). Boring.
We folded cardboard rectangles into boxes-of-maximum-volume dozens of times, found the minimum diameter 100-foot-long wire that could just barely support its own weight plus 5 pounds, and other similar schoolboy optimization problems. Relentless repetition. This problem would have been yet another ho-hum, please-not-this-again turn of the crank: Find the value of x which minimizes T(x). Boring.
In what sense is it smart and logical to lose a plural marker when abbreviating?SY said:
Perhaps they have particularly soft and delicate rear ends?scott wurcer said:
Some people still fear that you can't drink the water over here. In almost all of Europe, tap (translation: faucet) water is safe to drink. Surprisingly, an awful lot of people buy bottled water which is much more expensive and contains a lot more other stuff in it than tap water.
Anyway, let us not divert this thread too far away from its original noble purpose.
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I had to revise my algebra and calculus before I went back to university to do a Masters. I thought I would be at a considerable disadvantage compared with the youngsters on the course, but I found that my knowledge was similar to theirs (and better than some) but with the advantage that I still remembered how to study whereas some of them had never needed to because of modern spoon-feeding.AndrewT said:
At's becoz them u.s. gallons is so small.
Now we need to figure out why even the ounces are a different size.
It's what we should expect from a country that still drives on the wrong side of the road. The rest of the world knew a century in advance that the driver would need his right hand free to operated the center console computer.
(half of Asia, half of the Caribbean, half the Mediterranean, half of Africa, half of the Middle East, Oz, Kiwistan)
Isn't it something to do with that little war of independence? 😀
Since we (UK) use Imperial weights and measures, and British Imperialism was rebelled against in every way possible?
Personally, although I am accustomed to working in both imperial inches or metric, what really gets frustrating at times is the continued use of inches (pipe fittings particularly) on US product.
Whitworths are so expensive nowadays (often the biggest obstacle in my day job when attempting to service British machinery c.1930 - built to last)
Nope Oz are the same size.
Lb=16oz on both sides of pond
pint in US=16Floz (consistent)
pint in UK=20Floz (WTF)
gallon =8britpints=160floz=4.54litres
USgallon=8merkapints=120Floz=3.8litres.
I will note to my embarassment, having not done much calculus for 20 odd years that I did on first scribble get the differentiation wrong. Mind you I would normally have plotted the graph in excel and solved by inspection cos its quicker that remembering :$
Lb=16oz on both sides of pond
pint in US=16Floz (consistent)
pint in UK=20Floz (WTF)
gallon =8britpints=160floz=4.54litres
USgallon=8merkapints=120Floz=3.8litres.
I will note to my embarassment, having not done much calculus for 20 odd years that I did on first scribble get the differentiation wrong. Mind you I would normally have plotted the graph in excel and solved by inspection cos its quicker that remembering :$
Oz use imperial? I thought they were metric all the way (I blame my youth exposure to Ozzie soaps)
Well if they use imperial then perhaps its due to the fact (correct if wrong) that they still had a British sovereign until (relatively) recently, unlike the US?
Calculus nearly killed me at school.
Then I took a HNC (2008) followed by my degree (2011-15) and I had to rapidly do a better job than during my teens, and some 15+ years later.
It was a hard slog, but I can do more maths than I believed. But I'm lazy, its just a tool, and there are tools to make life easier now that I don't need to use calculus for academia.
Why memorise, when a good reference is at hand? Id rather fill my brain with memories.
For what its worth, relearning written long division was almost as trying (after calculators were allowed during high/secondary school)
I relearned, purely to perform binary mathematics.
I have small stocks, but for some reason I cannot fathom they are expensive - though perhaps its another imperial (but US) thread size that is difficult to source....
(I'm.electrically trained rather than mechanically trained, but in my role I have to turn my hand to just about anything. Control systems, scada, electronics, HVac, custom fabrication, sourcing, designing. I maintain and upgrade a small power station consisting of several MVA of AC generators, and several MW of DC generation, dating from c1930- present. Its a varied and challenging job, and almost like curating a museum at times 🙂
I always liked Fahrenheit better than Celsius for day-to-day things. Fahrenheit is higher resolution for human scale temperatures.
Fahrenheit is useful for some things (herpetology and babies temps) but really??? When they scientific world at large uses Kelvin, why would science continue to use Fahrenheit?
Where would maths be, if we all still used the Roman numeral system???
Lol this is why I love Canada. Gotta love them Maples.(I admire the fact some states are almost entirely bilingual, heavily cultured etc.)
What baffles me most about US use (or misuse) of English, is the fraction 1/4.
Its a quarter. Not a fourth. Yknow, just like a quart is a quart...
But I digress (again). Must be the Britishness kicking in and making teeth go wonky (damn my dentist for looking after my dental health and not appearance...where's my brace/retainer???)
But hey, neither the UK or US has a big boots as they/we would like to think.
Another century or two and we'll all be speaking Mandarin or Panglish, or some other language, and all this will mean nothing 😀
Where would maths be, if we all still used the Roman numeral system???
Lol this is why I love Canada. Gotta love them Maples.(I admire the fact some states are almost entirely bilingual, heavily cultured etc.)
What baffles me most about US use (or misuse) of English, is the fraction 1/4.
Its a quarter. Not a fourth. Yknow, just like a quart is a quart...
But I digress (again). Must be the Britishness kicking in and making teeth go wonky (damn my dentist for looking after my dental health and not appearance...where's my brace/retainer???)
But hey, neither the UK or US has a big boots as they/we would like to think.
Another century or two and we'll all be speaking Mandarin or Panglish, or some other language, and all this will mean nothing 😀
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