Monthly Archives: July 2010

The Case of the Mysterious Bit Errors

Posted on 26-July-2010 by mathscinotes

Introduction I am the hardware director for a team of optical networking professionals. More often than I care to admit, we need to embark on a detective case in order to resolve a customer problem. This blog describes a situation … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiber Optics | 1 Comment

Another Interview Question

Posted on 25-July-2010 by mathscinotes

Besides me, there is one other engineer in my group that used to work for Hewlett-Packard back in the old days. One day we decided to compare notes on the crazy interview questions that we were asked all those many … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviewing, Problems | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Fixing My Stairs Using Mathematics

Posted on 21-July-2010 by mathscinotes

The Problem I am a VERY amateur carpenter, but I do love to build things out of wood. One particular specialty area of carpentry that I admire is stair building. I consider stair building (along with roof cutting) to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | 13 Comments

Why No More Bathyscaphes?

Posted on 15-July-2010 by mathscinotes

Introduction Like many people, I have been watching BP try to cap the blown Deepwater Horizon oil well. While BP has had many issues, it has been very interesting watching the unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) do their job. When most … Continue reading →

Posted in Underwater | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Rule of 72 Redeux

Posted on 12-July-2010 by mathscinotes

I frequently have to work on “time value of money” problems. Good approximate solutions to these problems can often be obtained by using the “Rule of 72.” The Rule of 72 will tell you approximately how many interest payment intervals … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial, Management | 1 Comment

Estimating Product Cost Part 1

Posted on 1-July-2010 by mathscinotes

The Problem I frequently am required to estimate product cost in the middle of some meeting with little or no preparation. As you gain more experience with building product, you soon are able to estimate a product's cost quickly for … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Comments Off on Estimating Product Cost Part 1