Author Archives: mathscinotes

I Would Not Like to Have Worked For Frank Lloyd Wright

Posted on 17-February-2015 by mathscinotes

Because my wife and I are designing a cabin to replace our hunting shack in northern Minnesota, we have been looking at various house designs. Many of the designs we have looked at show the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was the most famous member of the Prairie School of architecture. I know that Frank Lloyd Wright (Figure 1) is considered America's greatest architect (according to American Institute of Architects, 1991), but I do not think I would have wanted to work for him. Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science and Technology, Management | Comments Off on I Would Not Like to Have Worked For Frank Lloyd Wright

Designing an LED Backlight

Posted on 16-February-2015 by mathscinotes

I was reading an application note by Texas Instruments yesterday on how to design an LED backlight for an LCD display (Figure 1). The article was interesting, but it did bother me because it presented a rather involved formula and did not provided any motivation for the formula, a derivation, or even definitions of the parameters used in the formula. Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, optics | 3 Comments

Bathroom Fan Selection

Posted on 1-February-2015 by mathscinotes

I recently began remodeling a small bathroom on the second floor of my home. I have never been happy with the ventilation in that bathroom, particularly during showers when it seems more like a steam room than a bathroom. I decided to upgrade the ventilation fan in this room and I have been very happy with the improved performance. Figure 1 shows how the fan looks on my ceiling − yes, I am experimenting with a wood ceiling . In this post, I will go through my fan selection process and my ultimate choice. Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | 4 Comments

PVC Expansion and How to Deal with it

Posted on 27-January-2015 by mathscinotes

I have written a post about the problems that I encounter with the improper use of PVC pipes and accessories in outdoor Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) deployments. During my normal reading about codes and regulations, I found an example of a bad installation and an example of how to properly deal with PVC expansion by installing an expansion joint. Both of these items deserve some coverage here. Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on PVC Expansion and How to Deal with it

Ship's Course Correction for Cross-Current Rule of Thumb

Posted on 22-January-2015 by mathscinotes

I have lived most of my life in Minnesota, which is about as far away from the oceans as you can be in the United States. The idea of a planet mainly covered with water has always fascinated me. I will never forget the first time I saw an ocean (Pacific, Santa Monica, CA 1982). Fortunately, my work has provided me a bit of experience on ships and that experience was career changing − my early ocean experience involved laying fiber optic cable and that set the course of the rest of my career. Continue reading →

Posted in Naval History, Navigation | Comments Off on Ship's Course Correction for Cross-Current Rule of Thumb

Donor Chain Math

Posted on 20-January-2015 by mathscinotes

I just read an interesting article at Ars Technica on the mathematics behind setting up donor chains. The math is actually a variant of the prize-collecting traveling salesman problem, which is NP-hard. Continue reading →

Posted in General Mathematics | Comments Off on Donor Chain Math

Mississippi River and Its Distance from the Center of the Earth

Posted on 18-January-2015 by mathscinotes

In a recent post, I discussed how to compute the distance of mountaintops from the center of the Earth. This computation was interesting because we had to take into account the oblate shape of the Earth. Continue reading →

Posted in General Science | Comments Off on Mississippi River and Its Distance from the Center of the Earth

My Online Statistics Education Experience

Posted on 17-January-2015 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day I can't mate in captivity. - Gloria Steinem on why she never married I have been fortunate in having worked for companies that have had enlightened education policies, which I have always taken advantage of. These … Continue reading →

Posted in Statistics | 3 Comments

Super-Strong Sawhorse

Posted on 16-January-2015 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak… because in your life you will have been all … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Super-Strong Sawhorse

High-Speed Broadband, Fiber-To-The-Home, and President Obama

Posted on 15-January-2015 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day Even if all others do - not I. — Father of Joachim Fest (German Historian), from the Gospel of Matthew, a quote he made his sons memorize during WW2. I have been working for the past … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiber Optics | 2 Comments