Category Archives: General Mathematics

Spline Interpolation Example Using Battery Capacity

Posted on 10-March-2013 by mathscinotes

Introduction I had a conversation with a customer recently who wanted to estimate the capacity and running time of their electronic systems when operating from batteries that are under various current load and temperature stresses. The battery manufacture had only … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, General Mathematics | Comments Off on Spline Interpolation Example Using Battery Capacity

Skydiving Math

Posted on 17-October-2012 by mathscinotes

Introduction I must admit that I was amazed at what Felix Baumgartner accomplished. As I watched the video, I found myself focusing on the video's display of Felix's speed versus time. It was really interesting to see how he quickly … Continue reading →

Posted in General Mathematics, General Science | 1 Comment

Organizing Mathematics

Posted on 9-March-2012 by mathscinotes

I'll kiss him on both cheeks - or all four if you'd prefer it. — Winston Churchill about Charles de Gaulle I am not a very organized person -- if you could see my desk you would agree. However, I … Continue reading →

Posted in General Mathematics | 2 Comments

Geometry and Woodworking

Posted on 9-March-2012 by mathscinotes

A coworker sent the following link to me about an expanding table this morning. It is amazing. Very clever and beautiful use of geometry. The tables cost between $50K and $95K, depending on size. I guess I won't be buying … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, General Mathematics | Comments Off on Geometry and Woodworking

Approximation Math

Posted on 9-January-2012 by mathscinotes

Introduction Back in 2003, I used an approximation for the logarithm function in a hardware application. When originally implemented, the function only had to work for a limited range of input. Recently, a customer has requested that we expand the … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, General Mathematics | Comments Off on Approximation Math

Baby Math

Posted on 14-November-2011 by mathscinotes

I was listening to a news program this weekend when I heard a journalist say that "4 million babies are born in the US every year." When I heard that statistic, I thought that I should be able to estimate … Continue reading →

Posted in General Mathematics | 1 Comment

Book Review: Solving Mathematical Problems By Terence Tao

Posted on 6-October-2011 by mathscinotes

While on my vacation to Ireland, I brought along a book called "Solving Mathematical Problems: A Personal Perspective" by Terence Tao. The book was written when Tao was a 15 year old mathematics prodigy competing in international mathematics competitions. Today at … Continue reading →

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Chili Math and a Good Use for Decibels

Posted on 26-May-2011 by mathscinotes

You never know what you will see when you walk into a guy's cube. I went to an engineer's cube with a simple question on some electronic parts and I left with an education on chili peppers. My education began when I looked at his bookshelf and noticed that it was filled with various hot sauces, a dead giveaway that I was in the presence of a man who likes his heat. I also noticed the following chart on one of his walls (Figure 1). Continue reading →

Posted in Baking, General Mathematics | 3 Comments

Dimensional Analysis and Olympic Rowing

Posted on 17-March-2011 by mathscinotes

Introduction I have always found dimensional analysis to be a very useful engineering tool. I recently watched a video Professor John Barrow of Gresham College who did a very nice job illustrating how dimensional analysis can be used to derive … Continue reading →

Posted in General Mathematics | 1 Comment

A Little Drive-By Math Incident

Posted on 16-March-2011 by mathscinotes

A quick math problem came by my cube today that was worth sharing. I was asked if there was a closed-form solution to Equation 1. Eq. 1 This problem does not have a closed form solution using the "everyday" functions, … Continue reading →

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