Intro Basic Math

MATH IS VERY EASY! THE FIRST STEP.

A new way of thinking

There are no difficult math problems in the study of electronics. This is true with other sciences as well. I have a way of dealing with electronics problems that is designed to help the student see how simple it all is. I think that the entire education system had allowed the myth that math is difficult to persist. Math is made to be more difficult than it is.

is the same as 10 = 2 times 5

If f and L are given any person could easily calculate the value of X_L. 2 pi is of course 6.28. Suppose that X_L and f are known but L must be calculated?This would be a very practical problem. If we needed 200 ohms of opposition to current flow at a frequency 500,000 Hz then the formula would be a valuable tool. This is what I have had to do many times as a ham radio operator and electronics tinkerer.

is the same problem as 10 = 2 times X

There is nothing here that we could call "math". It is all too simple. Arithmetic would be a better word. Why would any high schooler not be able to solve for anything concerning inductive reactance (XL), frequency, and inductance?

If 10 divided by 2 produces 5 which is the value we have called by the name X until now then it must be so that 200 divided by 6.28 times 500,000 will produce the value we called L until now. The rules for little simple numbers are the same as for large, ugly, funny looking, and confusing numbers. What applies to 2 times 2 applies to any other two numbers!

is just as difficult as division and no more so.

It may come as a great surprise to some that what has just been written is needed by any student in a high school. Many high school and vocational adult students would not be able to solve for L above. At what ever level this is taught it would be helpful if it is presented as being as simple as it is. On and on I go. Nothing about math gets any more difficult to understand.

A New Tatic for Teachers

Hundreds and even thousands of times when a student came to me with a question I answered by writing an example of his problem using very simple numbers. The result was usually a grin as if to say "I should have known". The long term result was a student that understood that math was extremely simple.

A few examples

Area = width times height is one of the simplest formulas that our student is presented with. A practical application that I had to deal with not too long ago is here. I need to cut off an acre of land. The property is 175 ft wide. This is easy to do. An acre of land is 43,560 sq ft.

43,560 sq ft = 175 times height (or depth) is the same as 10 = 2 times X

A salesman got a commission check for $1000 dollars. He was paid a five per cent commission on his sales. How much product did he sell? Sales times commission per cent is equal to the amount of the commission check.

$1000 = .05 times sales is again the same problem as 10 = 2 times X

Examples are in the margins of the postage stamp. We can go all the way through an intensive course in basic electronics without finding a problem that does not have an example on the stamp. Does this sound like a new way of thinking? Do you think people who teach math try to make it as easy and understandable as they can? Do you think engineering schools want you to think of math as very easy? Neither do I.