Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

This generation of kids...

kiwilrdg

A-List Customer
Messages
474
Location
Virginia
Everyone can grasp some geometry concepts with no training but studying geometry is an efficient way to not need to learn everything through trial and error.

Even if the learning was entirely empirical the concepts are still used.
 
There is an annual quilting contest in my county. One of the awards is given by the local university's mathmatics department because quilting uses geometry. ;)

How many geometry classes do you think the woman, who made this in the 1700s, took?
c%2B1825%2BQuilt.jpg

None. lol lol
 
How could a structure be built without geometry? If there were no angles, flat surfaces, curves, area, or volume there would be no end product. Without the concept of geometry how would you even conceive that there needed to be space for the chickens to need a chicken coop.
The calculations from a geometry class may not always be needed but the relational principles are still used. Some of the principles may have also been learned through other sources but the ones that were learned in a geometry class seem instinctual once you know them.

Ask the Egyptians. We still have no idea how they did it even though we have geometry.
 

kiwilrdg

A-List Customer
Messages
474
Location
Virginia
Ask the Egyptians. We still have no idea how they did it even though we have geometry.

They had geometry (the Moscow Mathematical papyrus is a good example) and they had measuring tools. Their work is impressive and on a grand scale but there are many operative masons that have the skills to do the same today.
 
They had geometry (the Moscow Mathematical papyrus is a good example) and they had measuring tools. Their work is impressive and on a grand scale but there are many operative masons that have the skills to do the same today.

I didn't say that they didn't have geometry. However, their masons did such precise work that masons today could never duplicate it---with machines. I want to see them get it that precise and build something that heavy that won't sink and disappear into the earth. They can't do it. Ask around. Maybe they could do it with concrete but not stone blocks.
 

Undertow

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,126
Location
Des Moines, IA, US
That was another thing I had a hard time learning but I quickly picked it up when I developed an interest in guns. I know 5.56mm, 7.62mm and 9mm. :D

Only problem is once we start talking calibers, things get screwed up again. I mean .38 SP, really? Couldn't we just call it .357, or .357 Short, or .357 Not-So-Special? I suppose it's as bad as .30-06, which although the name makes sense, is not an accurate indication of actual bullet diameter.

I guess it's a good thing we have 9mm or else it would be called something insane like .32+3.5 or .355 1/2 or .35-02. Blasted calibers...
 
Only problem is once we start talking calibers, things get screwed up again. I mean .38 SP, really? Couldn't we just call it .357, or .357 Short, or .357 Not-So-Special? I suppose it's as bad as .30-06, which although the name makes sense, is not an accurate indication of actual bullet diameter.

I guess it's a good thing we have 9mm or else it would be called something insane like .32+3.5 or .355 1/2 or .35-02. Blasted calibers...

One good thing with the 357. You can fire 38 special bullets out of it too. Versatile they are.....:p
 

kiwilrdg

A-List Customer
Messages
474
Location
Virginia
They can't do it. Ask around. Maybe they could do it with concrete but not stone blocks.
In 1997 there was a quite succesful experiment conducted for the TV show NOVA.

As for sinking into the earth, The pyrimids do not appear to be in the same condition when you are up close, and the pyramids of Sneferu and Meidum are not in good shape at all.
They are still amazing pieces of craftsmanship, but we just don't want to bother to build like that today.
 
In 1997 there was a quite succesful experiment conducted for the TV show NOVA.

As for sinking into the earth, The pyrimids do not appear to be in the same condition when you are up close, and the pyramids of Sneferu and Meidum are not in good shape at all.
They are still amazing pieces of craftsmanship, but we just don't want to bother to build like that today.

We can't build like that today---no matter what we use. Take the Great Pyramid. You cannot duplicate the outside surface stones cut within 1/100th of an inch of perfectly straight and at nearly perfect right angles for all six sides. The are intentionally spaced 2/100ths of an inch apart. If modern technology can place a 20 ton stone with greater accuracy then I want to see it. They can't.
I am sure NOVA didn't come close---certainly not with a 20 ton stone.
Notice I used inches and not millimeters.:p
 

kiwilrdg

A-List Customer
Messages
474
Location
Virginia
They used 44 men for 22 days. They cut, moved, and placed 186 stones (about 2 tons, to match of the precisely placed exterior stones).
The spacing was still being perfected (they had not had years of using those types of tools) but the Master Mason was sure that if they continued to work it would reach that level in a short time.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
Even if you can't diagram a sentence anymore you can write in complete sentences. Many younger people are not learning that today.
Your proven ability to use the language shows that the learning tool worked.
You no longer need to be able to diagram the sentence because you can develop the structure in your head.

Many of the tedious parts of education in the past were teaching skills that seem instinctive once they are learned.

Well...reading alone can show you sentence structure. I don't think my daughter has ever learned how to diagram a sentence, but yet she knows how to write (and does a darn good job for a 7th grader).

I actually majored in English in college until I had to take an advanced grammar course - and diagramming sentences was part of it. I couldn't do it, so I dropped the class and changed my major to history. Yet I've made a living from writing for years.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,825
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The Pyramids could probably be constructed today -- if you had an unlimited supply of slave labor to do the heavy work. Failing that, you'd need a corporate sponsor with bottomless pockets to pay the labor you'd need. "The Great Pyramid of Apple?"

There's likely nothing humanity has constructed within the last hundred years or so that will still be standing five thousand years hence, with the possible exception of the heads on Mount Rushmore. All of modern man's works were constructed by the lowest bidder.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
109,645
Messages
3,085,668
Members
54,471
Latest member
rakib
Top