tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post5500909899325382723..comments2023-03-25T07:08:41.408-07:00Comments on It's like making sausage...: A guest post from Camille Minichino--DO THE MATHMary Anna Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01953683724363875469noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-65827724535514767442011-07-23T11:57:45.440-07:002011-07-23T11:57:45.440-07:00I have given a couple of "historical" le...I have given a couple of "historical" lectures to students and faculty about the slide rule and its use - rarely is there a faculty member in the room who knows how to use one. My dentist (who regularly tells me he wishes he had studied math instead of dentistry) told me his son did a school science project on the slide rule - using dad's old slide rule - my reaction was "you're older than I thought". I have my father's slide rule - he was an engineer - family heirlooms passed down through the generations.Jeannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10197695740115954979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-77031102853994992162011-07-20T20:17:54.312-07:002011-07-20T20:17:54.312-07:00Just came across
http://www.thecontemps.com/2011/0...Just came across<br />http://www.thecontemps.com/2011/07/girl-needs-math.htmlLiznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-27200929728450716672011-07-20T02:49:40.460-07:002011-07-20T02:49:40.460-07:00Ah the good old days...I used to operate a PDP com...Ah the good old days...I used to operate a PDP computer that used punch cards and took up a whole room...<br /><br />I also learned to use a slide rule in high school. Does that make me older? Or just wiser? :)Veedubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427929766062394200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-16724540214523802752011-07-19T14:24:50.229-07:002011-07-19T14:24:50.229-07:00I wrote the code for my thesis in FORTRAN 77. Thi...I wrote the code for my thesis in FORTRAN 77. This was a step up from the WATFIV that I learned originally. :)<br /><br />It took that program two hours to run on a mainframe I never saw because it was located in some building across campus. I'm pretty sure I could run it in a second on the phone in my pocket. Times do change...Mary Anna Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01953683724363875469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-35565009182372042872011-07-19T14:14:38.694-07:002011-07-19T14:14:38.694-07:00Wow, lyrics were much simpler in my day! I'm n...Wow, lyrics were much simpler in my day! I'm not sure there's even a math message in that set! Imagine the tag lines: commie, fairies, fever, library . . .<br /><br />I wrote the code for my thesis in FORTRAN 2D. Imagine! And the computer and peripherals took up just about a whole floor of the building. Then there was the Bendix for calculations -- it looked like a refrigerator!<br /><br />I love my iMac.Camille Minichinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04701150885595400018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-33317997618945634942011-07-19T11:20:09.351-07:002011-07-19T11:20:09.351-07:00Camille, this song caught my ear when my daughter ...Camille, this song caught my ear when my daughter was piping her iPod through my car radio. I looked up the lyrics, fearing that a song entitled, "Please Don't Tell Me to Do the Math," couldn't be a good thing from your point of view or mine. As it turns out, I think it's just a set of generally rebellious teenage lyrics, although I'm not completely sure about that. Check 'em out.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1KolgsGyhY<br /><br /><br />Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)<br /><br />We know that we could sell your magazines, if only you would give your life to literature just<br />DON'T READ JANE EYRE<br /><br />Work on your algebra, stand out in the rain and give yourself to simple pleasures but<br />NEVER PLAY CARD GAMES<br /><br />Meanwhile, back at home, not in Communist Russia, well only on my headphones, we plot our march onto the town hall, and if we'd take prisoners or simply simper at those fools<br /><br />Please don't tell me to do the math<br /><br />Tonight we're gonna smash this place up and then we're gonna deck it out with fairy lights so<br />WE ARE CONTENT<br /><br />And then we'll maybe drown in Dewey decimal, but leave our shoes off at the door ‘cause<br /><br />THAT WAS THE POINT<br /><br />Of us at home with the moon pouring through the curtains, working on our attitude towards the second hand book shop employees, reading the inscriptions that were never meant for their eyes.<br /><br />Please don't tell me to do the math<br /><br />I'm stitching up each one of your pockets so when we are together you'll maybe look a little less bored, I'm sticking your fingers into sockets, to kick-start your little heart and maybe sleep a tiny bit more.<br /><br />Oh maybe we should read more into the books that we adore, perhaps we should drink less vitamin C, and now I'm shouting out in capital letters “I WILL THROW YOU HIGH FIVES IF YOU KEEP YOUR OWN SECRETS!!”Mary Anna Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01953683724363875469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-37920588312044939632011-07-19T11:16:45.695-07:002011-07-19T11:16:45.695-07:00Alas, Liz, but I never used a slide rule in school...Alas, Liz, but I never used a slide rule in school, and I'm no spring chicken. (I started college in 1979, way back when we used punch cards for our FORTRAN programs, which is only one or two steps less old-school than a slide rule.) I've seen a couple of them, and I certainly understand the logarithmic coolness of how they work, but I've never gotten a chance to fool around with one. My grandfather earned his mechanical engineering degree in 1929, and I had hopes of inheriting his slide rules and compasses and such, but my uncle the industrial engineer got them. Darn.Mary Anna Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01953683724363875469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-84209654389252736352011-07-19T09:02:50.509-07:002011-07-19T09:02:50.509-07:00Thanks, Michelle! And, yes, there's a great si...Thanks, Michelle! And, yes, there's a great sisterhood of the traveling slide rules, as Mary Anna indicates!<br /><br />Also the second Sophie book, The Probability of Murder, comes out at the same time next spring as Mary Anna's Mathematical Literacy in the Middle and Secondary Grades, so watch for the team!Camille Minichinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04701150885595400018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-26430784020796967172011-07-18T21:00:40.879-07:002011-07-18T21:00:40.879-07:00My prof husband was stunned when he realized some ...My prof husband was stunned when he realized some of his students could not fathom how to use a slide rule. Most now would not have seen one. Sad.Liz V.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-15910737284096548862011-07-18T08:38:47.351-07:002011-07-18T08:38:47.351-07:00Of course, I know Camille. We physics people alwa...Of course, I know Camille. We physics people always find each other. We have our ways...Mary Anna Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01953683724363875469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-65149212204051467512011-07-18T08:08:15.402-07:002011-07-18T08:08:15.402-07:00Oh, and I do love Agatha Christie...I was reading ...Oh, and I do love Agatha Christie...I was reading her when I was 14! My mother was big in to literature, but not so much into math... :PMichelleHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15620214611586302175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150156982088635842.post-72107891052115640472011-07-18T08:04:20.641-07:002011-07-18T08:04:20.641-07:00I've read Camille Minichino's books for lo...I've read Camille Minichino's books for longer then I've read yours, and I just got quite the thrill out of the fact that you know each other. Her books got me hooked on See's chocolates! Not sure if they'd get me hooked on math, but I'm willing to be open-minded about it. :)MichelleHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15620214611586302175noreply@blogger.com