Eighth-grade algebra is nothing. Try eleventh-grade calculus and trigonometry.
*passes the aspirin in sympathy*
Random Thoughts
- Thread starter GrahamLewis
- Start date
Eighth-grade algebra is nothing. Try eleventh-grade calculus and trigonometry.
*passes the aspirin in sympathy*
defaux
May contain traces of purple
Active Member
Member
New Member
Winner: August Flash Fiction
Winner: August Short Story
Try post-grad advanced calculus...
I did calculus as part of my electrical engineering studies. 40 years later I still have a headache from it.
No, thanks. My twelfth-grade trig and calc was headache-inducing enough for me.
I guess that's why I did something easier for my bachelor's degree: programming and project management. (And it was obsolete within a year. Ah, university education. You just can't beat it, can you).
I didn't do calculus, but I had to keep track of (and translate between) binary, octal and Hexadecimal code, without a calculator.
For an encore, I did a graduate diploma in network engineering (early-mid noughties). It's 20 years later and most of it's long obsolete, but I can still take computers apart, put them back together again, and upgrade my hardware. (But I'm sure most kids nowadays can do that... right??)
*twirls a screwdriver* ;-P
defaux
May contain traces of purple
Active Member
Member
New Member
Winner: August Flash Fiction
Winner: August Short Story
For the most part stuff these days isn't even designed to come apart, let alone be upgradable. How could they sell you next year's model if it were?take computers apart, put them back together again, and upgrade my hardware. (But I'm sure most kids nowadays can do that... right??)
Kind of sad really, my children will likely never have the experiences tinkering that I had.
Cars are the worse. I can't even change the headlight bulb without taking half the front end off. And they stick the oil filters where you can't reach them too.
No more "shade-tree" mechanics. There's money for dealerships in making their services mandatory.
That's the nice thing about a BA in philosophy --it's never obsolete. But as for financial value, well, there are more things in this world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, Horatio,No, thanks. My twelfth-grade trig and calc was headache-inducing enough for me.
I guess that's why I did something easier for my bachelor's degree: programming and project management. (And it was obsolete within a year. Ah, university education. You just can't beat it, can you).
I didn't do calculus, but I had to keep track of (and translate between) binary, octal and Hexadecimal code, without a calculator.
For an encore, I did a graduate diploma in network engineering (early-mid noughties). It's 20 years later and most of it's long obsolete, but I can still take computers apart, put them back together again, and upgrade my hardware. (But I'm sure most kids nowadays can do that... right??)
*twirls a screwdriver* ;-P
If I had good grades in math, physics, chemistry I'd probably try to get in to one of the schools with promising careers such as engineering. Not to say that the entrance exam for the school I applied for (after dropping another school) was easy, it lasted for 4 days and it wasn't as much about being smart as it was about being consistent and writing regularly. I was confused with the professor's feedback a lot not knowing what it is that they liked or disliked about my work. Good times though.
Buncha erudite braggarts. The enlightenment attained in eighth grade algebra saved me a lot of agony later on.
Louanne Learning
Active Member
Member
New Member
Role Play Moderator
Winner: 4th Contest August
Winner: June Flash Fiction
There's a wonderful indulgence in solving for x ....
I got through differential calculus, but integral calc was my downfall.
I had a Renault (a 1969, I think) that needed a dashboard bulb replaced. It took four hours. (Step 1: Remove steering wheel. Step 2: remove entire dash, disconnecting every damn wire that was plugged into it so you can get to the bulb receptacle.) Clearly, the designers weren't talking to the people who had to service the cars.
I still do most of the routine mechanicking on my '71 VW bus, but not my newer cars. When the bug and first bus were introduced, the guy who ran VW was himself once a mechanic who not only worked on cars but wrote the service manuals for GM, so (with rare exceptions) his designers were obliged to keep the service people in mind.
Yes, solving for X can reveal many great truths. I got this from the Car Talk guys:
power=work/time
knowledge=power
Therefore,
knowledge=work/time
time=money
Therefore,
knowledge=work/money
or
money=work/knowledge
As knowledge approaches zero, money approaches infinity.
In other words, the less you know, the richer you are.
When I indulge, I look for really good strawberry ice cream.
Wife hit a duck in her new car. Cracked the grille, rip duck. I bought a grille online for 25% what the dealer wanted. Simple fit right? No, you have to take the entire front off, as well as popping loose the quarter panels. This took all day and three or four of those plastic retainers broke. My farm ute threw a code (from sitting too long, battery went flat) you see, it wants the dealer to make sure all the numbers match or ? I have my own OBD scanner, but this code is secret and only dealers get the magic. They wanted 600 to make it go away. I mean, there's nothing wrong, runs fine. I just ignore it and plug in the OBD when I change the oil to see if anything else has gone amiss (never does).
In Australia you can take it to any qualified mechanic, a thing dealers hate you knowing. Is this not the case in other lands? 'Dealer serviced' means they gave it to some apprentice to practise on.
I think that it depends on whether the car is in warranty or not. At least her in California, you can take your car to any garage you trust if it's out of warranty. In other states, I think that the dealers have the right to void the warranty if you car is serviced outside their network.
Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the famous "Car Talk" brothers, claimed that they learned about auto repair "in the traditional way, by making mistakes on other people's cars."
Yeah thats what I meant - we call it a 'log book service' - having to take a ford to a ford dealer for example, is bullshit. The only reason we have ours done is to keep the thing under warranty. It's just an oil change and a bit of tyre kicking, really. In Australia you take it where you want so long the place is authorised as a mechanic.
Similar threads
