Thread: Not a math wizard

Originally Posted by skeptic1

On of my early jobs after service involved calculating percents of the whole for large strings of numbers using a small calculator. (I was a low paid worker but I worked 80-100 hours to make up for it. ('1946")

One of my co-workers watched me labor for a bit and said "want to see an easier way of doing that ? "YES" I REPLIED !

Divide 1 by the total of one of the strings of numbers developing a reciprocal
Enter the reciprocal into memory plus.
Enter each number in the string and hit equal for display of the percent.
When finished Add the percents to a total to be sure it adds to 100 %
Adjust the largest individual percent by usually not more than a one tenth.
Repeat for each individual string.

Can the calculation be done with any less key strokes ?

Yes, especially if you use Excel instead of an adding machine.

Originally Posted by lutherf

Yes, especially if you use Excel instead of an adding machine.

This was in 1946 !

Interesting, Where are the savings ?

Do you mean you have a macro and need only to enter the total and individual amounts and the program does the rest ?

um, just divide one number by the other?

Originally Posted by skeptic1

This was in 1946 !

Interesting, Where are the savings ?

Do you mean you have a macro and need only to enter the total and individual amounts and the program does the rest ?

I'm no genius with Excel and macro's are a bit beyond me but I can copy/paste the hell out of a formula!!

BTW, what the heck were you doing with an electronic calculator in 1946? Up until the 70's I had to use a mechanical adding machine.

It's interesting how today many would have no clue how to do math without a calculator or a computer isn't it ? Kind of like writing in cursive is disappearing, hell, writing in regular English is disappearing.

C what I mean ? I h8 that

.... Hellinnahandbasketgrumblegrumble...

Originally Posted by Captain Trips

It's interesting how today many would have no clue how to do math without a calculator or a computer isn't it ? Kind of like writing in cursive is disappearing, hell, writing in regular English is disappearing.

C what I mean ? I h8 that

.... Hellinnahandbasketgrumblegrumble...

How many kids you yelled at for being on your lawn today, CT?

Originally Posted by pramjockey

How many kids you yelled at for being on your lawn today, CT?

3.

They were out there trying to mow my dang lawn.

.... in the snow !!!

Yeah they were all carrying 40 ouncers and drunker than hell, they ran next door supposedly to prune some trees or dig a new well or something.


Idjits

Originally Posted by Captain Trips

It's interesting how today many would have no clue how to do math without a calculator or a computer isn't it ? Kind of like writing in cursive is disappearing, hell, writing in regular English is disappearing.

C what I mean ? I h8 that

.... Hellinnahandbasketgrumblegrumble...

Although I certainly agree that it's quite important to know the mechanics of various calculations it would simply be absurd to not use the tools available when they could serve to save time and energy without sacrificing accuracy. If

I want to know what 37.5% of 28,632 is it would be simple enough to multiply it out by hand but it would also be one heck of a lot faster to use a calculator if you have one on hand. That being said, if I wanted the answer to that question and getting a calculator meant walking into my office from the kitchen when I had pencil and paper on the counter I sure as hell wouldn't go get the calculator.

Originally Posted by Captain Trips

3.

They were out there trying to mow my dang lawn.

.... in the snow !!!

Yeah they were all carrying 40 ouncers and drunker than hell, they ran next door supposedly to prune some trees or dig a new well or something.


Idjits

Well played, sir

Originally Posted by lutherf

Although I certainly agree that it's quite important to know the mechanics of various calculations it would simply be absurd to not use the tools available when they could serve to save time and energy without sacrificing accuracy. If

I want to know what 37.5% of 28,632 is it would be simple enough to multiply it out by hand but it would also be one heck of a lot faster to use a calculator if you have one on hand. That being said, if I wanted the answer to that question and getting a calculator meant walking into my office from the kitchen when I had pencil and paper on the counter I sure as hell wouldn't go get the calculator.

Yes, it's important not to be dependant on such things. Nice to have and use for convenience but necessary to understand how to do the operations without gadgets.

Originally Posted by pramjockey

Well played, sir

I see things.

Hear things too.

Talk to myself a lot.

Here they come back fercryin'outloud !!

Dumb kids

Originally Posted by Captain Trips

Yes, it's important not to be dependant on such things. Nice to have and use for convenience but necessary to understand how to do the operations without gadgets.

Heck, CT, my students couldn't do basic math with a calculator!

Originally Posted by pramjockey

Heck, CT, my students couldn't do basic math with a calculator!

That tells you about the state of education in America doesn't it

Start asking/talking about roots (square, cube etc.) and you'll really get some weird looks probably

They'll think you're talking about some back to nature porn flick or something