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An on-line collection of calculators.
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29-10-2013, 12:17 AM
Found whilst browsing the 'Net. A truly magnificent collection of calculators covering almost every discipline in engineering. Obviously, the ones that are applicable to our common interest in Radio & Electronics will be the most useful, but some of the others could, on occasion, be useful too.
http://www.calculatoredge.com/english.htm Al. / Skywave / Oct. 29, '13 //
Very handy Al - thanks for that!
Some fascinating facts too - under 'volume' for example. How the gallon came about, originally a measure of eight pounds of wheat, later the volume of ten pounds of water under certain conditions, and why the American gallon differs from the imperial gallon. Being of an era when we had to recite by rote such things as weights and measures, times tables, I well remember the whole class reciting 'a pint of water weights a pound and a quarter'. I can't remember what we chanted for 'rods, poles, perches and chains' though, but I do recall how the furlong and rod originated - namely, 'furrow long' - the length of furrow in a field, and rod being the length of the rod which spaced out furrows when strip farming existed, being the length or the rod that was used to guide the horse. You can still see areas of land when such furrows and spacings still exist undisturbed since before the Enclosures Act when peasants were turned off their strips of land. I'm not likely to need to calculate the volume of an ellipsoid sphere (rugby ball shape) but to do so would be so much easier by using the calculator! Clever stuff!
Regards, David.
BVWS Member. G-QRP Club Member 1339. 'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here' 
29-10-2013, 08:54 AM
Young Al,
I'm now in a state of advanced if not terminal gloom and despondency. When I saw the Thread title I thought 'Ah, now I'll find my old Calculator', but of course it's about Calculators not Calculators  Back in the early '70s I had, or at least I persuaded the Company, twice, to buy me a particular Programmable Calculator. The advantage it had, apart from being Programmable, was that it was big, about the size of medium Paperback. That meant that it had a good big display - LED? - and keys that you could actually use without a Magnifier. It wasn't a 'Desktop' type - it was meant to be portable - although it was quite heavy, and got very hot on the back. I think it was made by one of the Computer Manufacturers, NCR perhaps, although I can't remember which. I've searched many times in all the usual places but never found it. Anyone recognise the description? Alan
29-10-2013, 07:52 PM
(29-10-2013, 07:50 AM)Yorkie Wrote: I well remember the whole class reciting 'a gallon of water weights a pound and a quarter'. No wonder you failled your 11+: it's a PINT of water that weighs a pound-and-a-quarter.  - Joe
30-10-2013, 01:24 PM
(29-10-2013, 07:52 PM)Joe Wrote:(29-10-2013, 07:50 AM)Yorkie Wrote: I well remember the whole class reciting 'a gallon of water weights a pound and a quarter'. Well spotted Joe - I can't believe I wrote that - the chant was burned into my brain!! I'd have got detention and 100 lines for that error. I'll give myself a slap on the wrist.  Now corrected! If I carry on with this downward slide Joe, you're soon going to have to see me across the road or I'll be a hazard to traffic. 
Regards, David.
BVWS Member. G-QRP Club Member 1339. 'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
30-10-2013, 03:15 PM
(29-10-2013, 08:54 AM)AlanBeckett Wrote: Young Al, Could it have been the NCR 18-16, made by Busicom: http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/n...unior.html NCR rarely actually made anything themselves, but financed development by companies such as Busicom. In the early 70s, I worked for Mohawk Data Sciences and then Commodore and in both cases, we badged some of our product for NCR and shipped it in their colours, brown and cream. NCR even funded a lot of early microprocessor development too. Colin
30-10-2013, 06:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 30-10-2013, 06:34 PM by Radio Fixer.)
Takes all the fun out of it. Far better to work it out yourself from 1st principles as you did all those years ago at College or the lucky few at Uni.
 Gary
30-10-2013, 07:32 PM
Colin,
I replied to your Post but must have forgotten to hit the 'Post Reply' Button I'm afraid that one simply doesn't have enough keys, and it's not Programmable. I've spent some time searching the site without any luck. Without wishing to be derogatory the vast majority of them are simply tin-pot Electronic Adding Machines. Of course, eventually, there were the more complex Scientific ones and then the likes of the TI58/59, and the others, but that was quite a long time after the one I'm thinking of. I suspect one problem is that the one I'm looking for wasn't 'Desktop', but it wasn't 'Pocket' either. So, I'll have to keep searching. Alan |
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