Author Archives: mathscinotes

Determining the Bandwidth of A Pulse

Posted on 3-December-2013 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day The odds are good, but the goods are odd. — Statement made by an Alaskan woman after she told me that there were 1.6 men for every woman in her town. Introduction I was reading an … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics | 2 Comments

Sahara Water Math

Posted on 2-December-2013 by mathscinotes

I was watching an episode called "Sahara" of the series "How the Earth Was Made" and they had a very good discussion of the history of the Sahara Desert and how it formed. During the presentation, they discussed how ground water can be found that is very old and very hot. I thought I would look into this a bit. Continue reading →

Posted in General Science, Geology | Comments Off on Sahara Water Math

A Problem Solved in Excel and Mathcad

Posted on 30-November-2013 by mathscinotes

I use both Excel and Mathcad in my daily work. Most people would consider me very proficient in both. I frequently get asked, "Which tool is better?" Like all other interesting questions in Engineering, the answer is "it depends".

As an example, I decided to work a simple problem in both Excel and Mathcad. A number of the advantages and disadvantages of both tools can be seen in this example. The key problem with Excel is its cell-oriented approach. While the cell-oriented approach works for small problems, it has major issue with large problem Continue reading →

Posted in Ballistics, History of Science and Technology, Military History, Naval History | 2 Comments

Snake Venom Math

Posted on 26-November-2013 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted." — Seneca Introduction I was a recently in Barbados doing some … Continue reading →

Posted in General Science | Comments Off on Snake Venom Math

Fire Control Formulas from World War 1

Posted on 23-November-2013 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag carrying the Cross. — Sinclair Lewis Introduction I am reading the book "Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control". … Continue reading →

Posted in Ballistics, History of Science and Technology, Military History | 11 Comments

WW2 Sub Skippers Were Very Young

Posted on 15-November-2013 by mathscinotes

Hollywood movies usually show WW2 sub skippers as men in their late 40s or 50s (e.g. Operation Pacific or Run Silent Run Deep). I found a list of the top scoring US submarine skippers of WW2 and was able to figure out their birthdays. Given their birthdays, I determined that they had an average age of 32 years on December 7th, 1941. The following table summarizes their ages and their post-war "ships sunk" scoring. When you think about the responsibility they had, these men were very young. Continue reading →

Posted in History Through Spreadsheets, Military History | 3 Comments

Inserting Images into Excel Comments Using VBA

Posted on 14-November-2013 by mathscinotes

I use Excel for basic statistical analysis of manufacturing and field return data as part of daily routine. I also use Excel for department budgeting. During these tasks, I frequently need to add information to my spreadsheets about my information … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, software | 27 Comments

A Tale of Getting Older

Posted on 11-November-2013 by mathscinotes

I was with a couple I have known for years this weekend. They have two daughters separated in age by five years. The younger daughter is just finishing high school and still lives at home. The older daughter is no … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged | Comments Off on A Tale of Getting Older

Another Glamour Shot from the World of Engineering

Posted on 25-October-2013 by mathscinotes

Things are starting to get cold now in Minnesota and all nature's creatures are looking for a nice warm place to stay for the winter -- including me. Today's photo shows a frog who found one of my optical network … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics | Comments Off on Another Glamour Shot from the World of Engineering

More Bugs in My Optics

Posted on 19-October-2013 by mathscinotes

I had another optical failure related to bug intrusion. I do not yet understand how the bugs do it, but somehow they increase my optical loss enormously. This particular optical node was not properly sealed and box elder bugs got … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiber Optics | Comments Off on More Bugs in My Optics