On 2/19/2014 4:12 PM, Swingman wrote:
....

No worries, those who are trained in just about any scientific
discipline are generally quite capable of recognizing the same in others
of very different disciplines, Google notwithstanding. g

That fact might have a time limit on it though ...

If that's referring to what I'm presuming, I'm forgetting more and at a
more rapid rate every day, too...

A fellow at the morning coffee klatch the other morning had seen a Nova
program with Brian Greene wherein he had apparently (I didn't see it)
mentioned getting interested in physics in HS when he realized could
write equations for complex systems and solve for the resulting motion.
I guess the example was the HS physics instructor hypothesized a
baseball stuck to the ceiling w/ a wad of gum and what would happen?

After the obligatory explanation of Newton (the fellow's a geologist,
not an engineer so his physics is even rustier than mine), I explained
how there's an easier formulation altho I doubted that even Dr Greene
knew anything about it at the HS level. So, I started to write the
Lagrangian show him how to set up the two coordinates of angle and
vertical displacement and then...and then...and then...

Just been too long. So, anyway, I've spent the evenings last week or so
after that humbling experience glancing thru a couple old texts again
while the Olympics bumbles along in the background...

One thing is clear...the practice w/ the modern computer and things such
as Matlab, Mathematica, and all the other engineering toolsets is a far
cry from the early days when was issued the 20" K+E slide rule when
first reported for duty at B&W NPGD...

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