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| Thread ID: 29820 | 2003-02-04 01:16:00 | OT: A question for skilled mathematicians, or am I just thick? | Billy T (70) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 118091 | 2003-02-04 19:01:00 | ARGHHHH its 5th form physics all over again!!!!! :P lol - David |
DangerousDave (697) | ||
| 118092 | 2003-02-04 19:40:00 | > I seem to remember there was an Indian? gentleman > around in recent times who could beat a computer to > some answers, but even if not that fast, he could > match a computer for accuracy and was probably more > accurate than a pentium with the floating point > error. > > Then there was me :( > > Cheers > > Billy 8-{) :| I think I'll go and have a lie > down I can beet a computer too, if I work out the answer, before I put the question in the computer |
Horses Hoof (3080) | ||
| 118093 | 2003-02-04 21:06:00 | Hi Rugila To state the obvious, a diagnostician diagnoses :D In essence, I solve electrical & electronic problems in various commercial or industrial installations by gathering information about the effects that are causing concern, whatever they may be, and logically thinking through possible causes until I arrive at a hypothesis . I then seek to prove that hypothesis by carrying out monitoring and tests on the equipment or in its operating environment to confirm the presence of abnormal conditions or events, then recommend appropriate corrective/remedial measures for the equipment or the operating environment . If that sounds a bit airy-fairy, it is because the scope and range of environments and conditions I work in is pretty much infinite and I never know where I will be next or what type of technology I will be working on . The only thing I know for sure is that there will be a problem, people will have tried to fix it and failed . Every contract adds to my experience and knowledge, but in the end I rely on a very broad knowledge of electrical & electronic technology in general, good knowledge of a range of technological and manufacturing processes, general knowledge in a wide range of disciplines, and a perverse (peculiar?) mind-set that melds logic and lateral thinking into an effective diagnostic process . Of course I am aided by a raft of diagnostic instrumentation . Technology is an essential tool to complement the human side of the diagnostic process . So, I'm not a medical diagnostician, but the processes are not a million miles removed in that I cannot normally open up the "patient" to look inside for clues so I rely on observational and listening skills to gather information then look for clues or symptoms that could produce the unwanted effects . Not all problems are electrical or electronic of course, some are mechanical, chemical or environmental, and not a few turn out to be human but no matter, my job is to sort out what's going wrong and lead the client to an effective and hopefully economic solution . Ergo, I am a diagnostician . And it's the most fun you can have standing up! :8} Cheers Billy 8-{) :D |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 118094 | 2003-02-04 21:19:00 | Billy, I remember when I was a kid that Dad, a Mechanical Engineer, had an "air conditioning" problem at a rather large photo lab. Dust was settling on the negatives and causing all sorts of problems. Turned out that although the lab was vacumned daily it was no-one's responsibility to empty the vacumn cleaner bag. Can be interesting what Consultants are hired to find... |
Heather P (163) | ||
| 118095 | 2003-02-05 00:06:00 | :D :D :D :D $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ | Billy T (70) | ||
| 118096 | 2003-02-05 21:09:00 | Hi Billy T . Thanks for info about your diagnostic activities, you explained that very fully . Most interesting . I’ve done a fair bit of electrical work myself at different times and on various levels . About 1915 Nicola Tesla used electricity to light a bulb on top of a rod in the ground some 30km away from the nearest power source . I tried that and it didn’t work, now I wonder why not … diagnostics division please help… It’s all fascinating stuff . Regarding your applications of logic, you might like to work out the logical answer to the following question . The local village had a barber who shaved every man in the village that did not shave himself . Did the barber shave himself or did he not? (For avoidance of doubt regarding trick questions, the village women and children neither shaved nor were involved in shaving, and the barber neither went outside the village to get shaved nor called an outsider in) . Cheers, rugila |
rugila (214) | ||
| 118097 | 2003-02-05 21:33:00 | > Now I can grab previously mentioned smartypants > daughter when she gets home from school and show her > something mathematical I know that she doesn't ]:) Makes you wonder what they teach in schools these days. I think we got taught that sort of stuff in third form when I was at school. Certainly needed it for 5th form maths. PS I easily did a uni course in maths but failed school c maths. Reason. I was interested in uni whereas school c I was made to do it. |
Big John (551) | ||
| 118098 | 2003-02-05 21:52:00 | Interesting rugila, but that looks more like a paradox to me than an exercise in logic. If treated solely as an exercise in logic, we can ignore the implied reference to the gender of the barber and the logical explanation is that the barber is a woman. Another view is that the question contains an invalid recursive definition in that the barber appears twice, therefore it need not/cannot be answered. My preferred answer is that since the question posed is paradoxical, I decline to accept that such a village can exist and therefore the paradox disappears, at leat it does from where I am sitting. :D As I commented recently in another post, the electronic equivalent of this problem is that which we not so fondly referred to as a "chase me - ***k me" circuit, where logical diagnosis leads you round in perpetual circles. Re Tesla's energy transfer exercise, I have read of this but never found sufficient information to form an opinion as to whether it was achieved or not. There seem to be several versions of the story and I guess one would have to find an authentic Tesla biography and history of his research and works to get any kind of hook on what may or may not have been achieved. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 118099 | 2003-02-05 22:35:00 | My best logical bets would be one of the following: 1. The Barber was a woman 2. The Barber was too young to shave 3. The Barber had a beard and didn't need to shave 4. The Barber has a skin condition which eliminates facial hair. 1 appears to have been eliminated so that leaves 2, 3 or 4 |
Heather P (163) | ||
| 118100 | 2003-02-05 23:30:00 | Hi Billy T. Most interested in your response. Several comments if you want to look at it a bit more. (a) A paradox is an exercise in logic. Dispute that by all means if you wish, but before doing so you might like to look at e.g. W V O Quine's essay by “The Ways of Paradox”, where he discusses this and related questions in some detail. Look up his credentials and about his essay on Google if in any doubt. If you find Quine inadequate I can refer you to others. (b) For clarification of avoidance of doubt, you can take it the barber is not a woman. (c) Problems where a term occurs twice and thus do not need to be answered takes an interesting view of problems, but it’s not a view I personally would care to take. (d) Your solution, which seems to be to assume the problem out of existence because you have difficulty with it, is a solution that has certainly been adopted by a lot of people, but not adopted by a lot of others. My own personal inclinations put me in the latter group. I think you may find there is a pretty heavy weight of philosophical firepower lined up against your view. Just where did you learn your logic? (e) Your situation with Tesla seems somewhat similar. If you found the problem interesting, as I thought an electronic diagnostician might do, then maybe you might have been interested in getting a hook on what was achieved and how. Avoiding problems that cause difficulty is certainly a widely used way to not have to resolve them, but again …. (f) Would you a good person to do my electronic diagnostics? Cheers. :) :( |
rugila (214) | ||
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