Gear Ratios

[pinkbikes]

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play (ride).
So I sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.

Hmm - the lengths rain-induced boredom will drive me to! I think we basically agree. I just get a bit OCD when it comes to accuracy in mathematics and physics. I guess it is my job to care about such things!

I think we agree that there are different tools and that each has benefits used in certain applications and I have no discomfort in understanding or applying any of them in the circumstances that fit. I have certainly not meant to imply otherwise.

A wise(a$$?) engineer who sits near me at work and comes out with sage sayings is fond of saying "An engineer is somebody who is trained to do with $2 what anybody could do with $100." I have been conditioned therefore to select the method of least complexity (needing fewer terms) and greatest efficiency to get the job done (answer the OP's question).

Your choice to stretch the mind further with the choice of a different tool is I'm sure the result of a different set of conditioning in your makeup! I'm sure between us at least we've improved the world's statistics on mathematical illiteracy just a little?

[Over50Newbie]

As I said before, that's why I love this site.

Thank you, ladies, for such an intelligent and respectful discussion.

Way over my head, but I'm sure very valuable to those who understood it!

And, as a bonus, I now know the answer to my original question!

Lynette

[OakLeaf]

A wise(a$$?) engineer who sits near me at work and comes out with sage sayings is fond of saying "An engineer is somebody who is trained to do with $2 what anybody could do with $100."

As a college math major and daughter of a high school math teacher, that reminds me of the old joke about the engineer, the physicist and the mathematician.

They're all staying in a hotel for a convention. In the middle of the night, the engineer wakes up to find that her trash can is on fire. She grabs the ice bucket off the dresser, runs to the bathroom, fills it with water, dumps it on the fire, and goes back to sleep.

Later the same night, the physicist wakes to find that her trash can is on fire. She glances at the amount of waste paper in the can, estimates the distance between her bed and the bathroom sink, hurriedly boots up her computer, furiously works calculus equations. Then she gets up, grabs the ice bucket off the dresser, runs to the bathroom, draws the exact amount of water necessary to put out the fire, dumps it on the trash can, and goes back to sleep.

Last, the mathematician wakes to find her trash can on fire. Without delay she boots up her computer and furiously works equations. After long minutes pass, she exclaims: "The problem has a solution!" And goes back to sleep.


/hijack

[pinkbikes]

Rotfl!

WAY to many good engineer jokes... and unfortunately far too many grains of truth in all of them!!