Monthly Archives: September 2017

Old Naval Mines Still Floating Around

Posted on 26-September-2017 by mathscinotes

I just read a news article about an old moored training mine washing up on a North Carolina beach (Figure 1). I am amazed at the number of mines that still wash up on beaches around the world. Figure 1 shows the mine that washed up on a North Carolina beach recently. Stories like this seem to happen frequently after severe storms. Fortunately, this training unit (i.e. inert) did not pose a hazard to the people who came upon it, but some explosive-laden mines still wash up on beaches (example). Continue reading →

Posted in Military History | 2 Comments

WW2 Tank Production Comparison Between Combatants

Posted on 22-September-2017 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day At least you figured it out. My first two husbands never did. — Female employee told me this after I mentioned that my wife's nickname for me was "The Paycheck" – this nickname was a joke … Continue reading →

Posted in Excel, History Through Spreadsheets, Military History | 15 Comments

Retired Hurricane Name Statistics

Posted on 18-September-2017 by mathscinotes

I was reading an article that stated that names of Hurricane Harvey and Irma could be the eighth pair of back-to-back hurricane whose names have been retired since the 1954. I have never thought about which hurricane names have been retired, so I started to search around the web. As usual, the Wikipedia provided an excellent data source. Continue reading →

Posted in History Through Spreadsheets | Comments Off on Retired Hurricane Name Statistics

Examples of Lake Clarity Variation Over Time

Posted on 13-September-2017 by mathscinotes

I am having my cabin built on a small lake in northern Minnesota. At the same time that the cabin is being built, a friend is in the process of locating an an existing cabin for purchase on a nearby lake – there are dozens of lakes within a few miles of my building site. He has been asking questions about the clarity of the water in these lakes. Fortunately, the state of Minnesota has an excellent web page with all sorts of technical data on lake water, including clarity measurements. Professional lake monitors are also used. On a regular basis, they gather technical information on the lakes: chemistry, fish populations, presence of invasive species, etc. The lake water clarity data historically has been measured using a Secchi disk (Figure 1) and volunteer lake monitors. In recent years, satellites have been tasked with clarity monitoring as well. So there are now two sources of lake clarity information that can be used to cross-check one another. Continue reading →

Posted in Excel, General Science | Comments Off on Examples of Lake Clarity Variation Over Time

Hurricanes and Typhoons Ranked By Air Pressure

Posted on 7-September-2017 by mathscinotes

I was watching the weather reports on Hurricane Erma and the discussions on how powerful it is. The most cited metrics for hurricanes and typhoons appears to be wind speed and eye barometric pressure (see Figure 1). I decided to look around for hurricane and typhoon strength data and the Wikipedia turned out to have a page containing large number of tables for all the most intense typhoons and hurricanes in different regions of the world. I used Power Query to (1) import the tables, (2) clean them up, (3) combine them, and (4) rank the storms by air pressure. Continue reading →

Posted in Excel, History Through Spreadsheets | Comments Off on Hurricanes and Typhoons Ranked By Air Pressure

Baby Name Frequency Ranking Using Power Query

Posted on 5-September-2017 by mathscinotes

You may have noticed that many of my recent posts are focused on data processing and analysis. These recent posts reflect the fact that I am preparing for a career change as I near "retirement," and I plan on working in the data analysis arena. This means that I have been in serious Python, R, and statistics training. While I love working with Python and R, I keep finding myself drawn back to Excel and Power Query (aka Get and Transform) for quick, ad hoc analysis work. While this blog will look at the frequency over time of the name Mark, you can use the tool to generate the same chart for any name. Continue reading →

Posted in History Through Spreadsheets, Personal | 2 Comments