RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 ...Don mentioning adding machines takes me back, At school we all had to know how to use calculators but they had a handle and gear wheels and were about the size of a loaf of bread. We all had slide rules as well. There was great excitement (well for the maths teachers) when the school was able to borrow an electronic calculator. It was as big as the top of a desk and could add, subtract, multiply and divide. I think it was called Anita Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Sidecar Racer Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) Morning all , had a trip out yesterday to the smallish Thornbury show , not bad for a small event but for the third year running the weather for the trip was ' orrible ' . I cant comment on the overnight weather here as I slept through it , but when I jumped crawled out of bed this morning the sun was shining , now it's back to grey and looks like it will rain again . A quiet day is planned , the final F1 race will be watched in it's entirity ,. Now for another coffee and a quick trip to Tesco's for a couple of things . Have a good one all . Edited November 25, 2012 by Sidecar Racer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 ... We all had slide rules as well. ... Few years ago went to a 'teaching maths to students' day at Birmingham university. Got talking to a physics PhD student and brought out my slide rule, which I'd brought along to see if there was any value in using it to teach logs. He said he'd never seen one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2012 Morning all, can now tell it is morning the sun is out and there is some blue sky! A lousy night out there my sympathy to those who had worse weather, there are strong gusts of wind now. Off to see where local radio thinks is flooded..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 Few years ago went to a 'teaching maths to students' day at Birmingham university. Got talking to a physics PhD student and brought out my slide rule, which I'd brought along to see if there was any value in using it to teach logs. He said he'd never seen one. We were introduced to logarithmic calculating sticks after being taught about Napiers Bones. Well it was a "modern maths" school!Way before smartboards connected to VLEs, I think the height of sophistication was a 6 foot long slide rule attached to the blackboard. My father had a huge book for his log tables, I think they were 8 figure logs. Also tables of conversions from metric to Imperial down to incredible tolerances. He did at least beautifully engrave my name on my slide rule. Most people just had their name scratched(school rule, all personal items must have clearly identifiable name on pain of death or similar) on the end stops. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Well the netbook had given me an updates downloaded message a couple of days ago, but I've got it just sitting amusing itself now, and certainly the hard-drive light seems to be flickering all the time, indicating some process under way. We'll see. Meantime I've dug out the laptop - a widescreen Toshiba - and it is password protected. Doh! There is a password hint, but it doesn't mean anything to me. As far as I am aware, Deb didn't have any great secrets from me - but then, as I think George Smiley observed, that's the point about secrets! Might be worth Googling it, Ian. I seem to recall opening up an old machine and removing the PCB battery that keeps the thing ticking over when the main battery is flat. It was a while back and there may have been a need to flick a DiL switch as well, but basically that cleared the password and allowed you to get in. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Morning all Did Nostrodamus say anything about 2012? Yes! He said: "Glorious weather throughout 2012 in the UK! Endless sunshine and the odd rainshower during the hours of darkness. use Lotto numbers: 20, 45, 30 15 and 60 - You will win big (but you don't really need it because everyone will be as wealthy as Croesus)..." Lost it's couplet feel in translation. Best, Pete. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) We were introduced to logarithmic calculating sticks after being taught about Napiers Bones. Well it was a "modern maths" school!Way before smartboards connected to VLEs, I think the height of sophistication was a 6 foot long slide rule attached to the blackboard. My father had a huge book for his log tables, I think they were 8 figure logs. Also tables of conversions from metric to Imperial down to incredible tolerances. He did at least beautifully engrave my name on my slide rule. Most people just had their name scratched(school rule, all personal items must have clearly identifiable name on pain of death or similar) on the end stops. A student colleague at my school told me that math teacher training today includes introductory courses to programmes like http://www.geogebra.org/cms/ . I'm sure I'd have liked to be working with this kind of software when I went to school! Edited November 25, 2012 by 1216 025 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 I use geogebra in teaching my lot. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 We were taken to see a computer when I was in the sixth form. I think it was IBM's data centre on the Hagley Road (A silicon highway in those days) in Birmingham. As a special treat during one half term we had an introduction to programming at the local FE college where we were introduced to City & Guilds "old code" and the joys of paper tape. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 "This is tucked away in the furthest corner of Westfield Stratford" Is it next to Waitrose? Talk about be careful what you wish for (sic) - I bet the East Anglia farmers wished they'd kept quiet about the drought. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 We had a computer visit us when I was at secondary school. It was a large white box that sat on two desks. The whole class filed in to watch the white coated technician from the Uni enter two numbers by turning dials to each digit. It gave the answer in binary by lighting a series of orange lights. We were very impressed when it added the two numbers. When I was in the sixth form we had a teletypewriter terminal connected to the local polytechnic. We typed Print "Hello". Fifteen minutes later the thing made a noise and the word Hello appeared on the toilet roll. Great excitement. More worrying, my daughter is driving home at the moment and both routes she would normally use are reported as being closed due to flooding. I've, more than half an eye out on the road watching for her arrival. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Hope all are safe in these conditions. Parts of North Wales are flooded. Another 2 inches of rain forecast here for today and tomorrow. Never mind - soon be the Shortest Day and then it's downhill towards another lovely Summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 I'll see your two inches and raise you an inch. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 I'll see your two inches and raise you an inch. Now then. Family forum! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Sun is shining although rain is not far away. Can still hear the satisfying thwack of a golf ball over the garden fence, so conditions must still be reasonable. I almost feel guilty compared to the troubles of others. Hope your daughter arrives safely BoD. No doubt her route maybe somewhat elongated, but better a few extra miles to get home safely than being stuck in endless queues of abandoned vehicles.... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonBradley Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Ouch folks. There can be no comparison with your current floods, but everyone is complaining about the rain showers we are getting here in November, nearly December. September should have seen the last of our Winter rain, South East winds should dominate October and totally dry weather should continue through until March/April/May. Definitely no sign of warming but climate change is a reality. I hope daughter arrives safely BoD. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) Just brought the dogs in from their walk paddle across the park lake. Some of the usual paths streams had quite a bit of washaway. People out and about were noticeable by their absence. Edited November 25, 2012 by Coombe Barton Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 At school we all had to know how to use calculators but they had a handle and gear wheels and were about the size of a loaf of bread. We all had slide rules as well. There was great excitement (well for the maths teachers) when the school was able to borrow an electronic calculator. It was as big as the top of a desk and could add, subtract, multiply and divide. I think it was called Anita My dad got one of the very early electronic calculators (can't recall the name), it had 6 digits, the basic mathematical operators and square root - wow ! endless fun learning the square root of two was 1.4... and 10 was 3.1... eventually I progressed to the Sinclair Cambridge and then programmable ones, my current one has more power than most of the computers I've ever worked on put together ! Few years ago went to a 'teaching maths to students' day at Birmingham university. Got talking to a physics PhD student and brought out my slide rule, which I'd brought along to see if there was any value in using it to teach logs. He said he'd never seen one. We were taught to use slide rules (I remember we were offered two models, a luxury one and a cheap one, I got the cheap one and it sufficed for all my use. It required an important part of maths (imho) - estimate the answer, so you know if the slide rule was indicating 31, 3.1 or 0.31, still useful as a sanity check even with calculators. We had a computer visit us when I was at secondary school. It was a large white box that sat on two desks. The whole class filed in to watch the white coated technician from the Uni enter two numbers by turning dials to each digit. It gave the answer in binary by lighting a series of orange lights. We were very impressed when it added the two numbers. The first computer I programmed was a PDP 11/01, it was programmed in Octal directly into machine registers, so we had to write the machine code and then convert it to the numeric values, that controlled a machine which crushed the glass fibre (and measured the load) used for centrifuge manufacture in the nuclear industry - highly amusing when you got a value wrong and the crosshead started to rise at an alarming rate and there were no safety stops - POWER OFF !!!! I then moved to Fortran on a PDP 11/04, also controlling a machine, this time a tensometer which pulled aluminium apart, to test the weld strengh, this one had safety cut outs though, the rest is history. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 I hope daughter arrives safely BoD. Just arrived back, thankfully. Roads were bad, but not as bad as reported on BBC and local radio. Conditions are changing all of the time as the rains come and go. We are forecast harder times from about midnight on. Stay safe everone 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 45156 Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2012 Just arrived back, thankfully. good news 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 I then moved to Fortran on a PDP 11/04, also controlling a machine, this time a tensometer which pulled aluminium apart, to test the weld strengh, this one had safety cut outs though, the rest is history. I bet you still managed to use print characters to print that picture of Raquel Welsh though .... ...and the one of The Flying Scotsman too. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Just arrived back, thankfully. Roads were bad, but not as bad as reported on BBC and local radio. Stay safe everone I think Stewart commented yesterday that the UK seems to have caught the American media virus of "We're all going to die" syndrome. Maybe some of us will but most of us will not and you achieve nothing by simply frightening people that are susceptible but are in a perfectly safe situation. Best, Pete. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) Conversely the "It's not going to happen to me" syndrome also results in casualties. "Be Prepared" regarding flood warnings means "Be prepared to get out fast" not "hang on and hope". Edited November 25, 2012 by Coombe Barton Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) I was looking at the travel news sections of the sites, Pete. Trouble is they aren't totally up to date. They tend to report incidents once everyone is caught up in them and don't clear details until well after they are actually cleared. I guess it's a spin off from relying on the public to phone in the information. Edit: Have just seen footage of various rail tracks in the Exeter area. It may be a while before they return to normal. Edited November 25, 2012 by BoD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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