[rescue] Cooling (Long Message, sorry)

[Jochen Kunz]

On 2002.04.17 01:15 Dave McGuire wrote:

>   Well, don't get me wrong...for simple stuff involving, e.g., Ohm's
> law, or the resonant frequency of an LC tank circuit, I whip out the
> calculator first. 
...as everyone would do. 

> But for anything more complex, doing heavy math
> seems to be what college professors like to do to impress each other.
See it that way: We add virtual inches to our virtual penis by getting
cool hardware, they do it with complex math. It is simply an other
sexual preference. ;-) 

Complex math is for me only a tool that I can use to solve complex
engineering tasks. E.g. building a math model of a physical system can
leed to a better understanding of that system and its parameters. Thus I
have easier tweaking of that parameters, even without calculating the
exact value of them. 

> > But it is nice to apply overcomplicated mathematics to generate some
> > input for e.g. a Cray. ;-)
>   Oh yes, I would *love* that...but my brain seems to lack the
> capacity to understand any math beyond simple algebra.
My experience was that my ability to understand complex math grew with
the complexity of the things that I had to understand. I can understand
that stuff, but I need a lot of time. It is laborious and I am lazy... 

>   Yes, it sucks...but they did indeed teach trigonometry in my high
> school...I just ignored it because I didn't consider it useful at the
> time.  And now, at least 99% of the time, I still don't.
German saying: "You are always smarter at the end." Now you know that it
can be usefull, at least sometimes. 

> > Ohh, yes. I have that "You didn't know that? Shame on you!"
> > attitude, as it makes me feel superior. ;-)
>   Uh-huh.  I'll forgive you for that if you forgive me for being
> defensive. 
OK. I'll forgive you. Let's be friends again. ;-)
This attitude is largely a product of my strange sense of humor. When
one of my friends / colleagues has a "Unix problem" he asks me and most
of the time I know an answer or at least I can point to a doc where he
can find the answer. So I am "The Big Unix Guru" at the Unix-AG and my
job. I am not a Guru. I simply have some more years of experience. So I
"play" the Guru role at my best: 
\begin{ironic smile}
"I know everything and I am the best! What is your desire, unworthy
creature?" 
\end{ironic smile}

> I've always been self-conscious about my inability to
> comprehend mathematics, and i guess I always will be.
The point is that I had the impression that you have some kind of degree
/ diploma. Therefore I was a bit astonished about your inaccurate
description. 
-- 



tsch|_,
         Jochen

Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/