I will go see Dr. Math and see what might be done in terms of a brain update, so to speak. Thanks for the info. By the way, on one of my aimless internet wanderings recently I had to solve a linear equation as an anti-spam measure. I had to use the calculator and everything. I had a rather nostalgic glow for a few minutes there. Hey, as long as I don’t have to post revealing photos of myself I’m generally amused by having to prove I’m not a computer program.

Rob

Even though I’m doing well to to spot matrices, much less remember what one does with them (if I ever knew), I have to applaud you for what must be a great deal of work on the blog. The internet needs more of the obscure but fascinating and less of the commercial and obscene (and possibly illegal in some states).
I’m left wondering how to rehabilitate my mathematical skills without subjecting myself to the community college experience. Also, I wonder where my old TI graphing calculator might be…You might have a few thoughts on the first question, but I don’t imagine you’ll be much help with the second.

For all I know there’s a book designed especially for the middle-aged with limited tolerance and missing hand-held electronic devices. The trouble is I’m not exactly sure what it is I’d like to know. Well, in this this specific instance, anyway. Calculus? Clearly I need a math guy. Where do they hang out, and how much sneering and sarcasm should I expect?

Thanks again for an interesting read.

Rob

Hi Robert. Well, you happened to respond to the most mathematically intensive post I’ve written, so I wouldn’t be discouraged by it. Math is a big subject, and there are many areas of it that I simply have no interest in and therefore essentially no knowledge of (graph theory, probability and statistics, fractals, abstract algebra, logic, and so on). Time constraints mean you have to limit the area to learn well. If you notice, the math I use is generally practical, high school level topics (algebra, geometry and trigonometry) with just a bit of other math when I need it (determinants that I had read up on because I forgot about them, and a bit of calculus here and there that is generally not necessary). One of the benefits of researching math history is that the math is much easier and less specialized! And you find out that there are still fascinating things you never encountered in high school math classes.

I want to make nomogram for eqn of the form z=(x-y)/x^2

can u help me out…mail me at rxxxx.xxx@gmail.com

thanks…

I’ve included this nomogram in my essay on using PyNomo to create nomograms (see here). The standard nomographic determinant form for this equation is given in the essay, so you can plot the nomogram by other means than PyNomo if you wish. (BTW, I’ve x’d out part of your email address to hide it from bots that search websites for email addresses to spam). — Ron

One is a nomogram that enables consumers to choose between two different fuels, each of which has a different number of miles per gallon and price.

The second one is a special purpose nomogram for race car drivers over a specific race course. It allows them to instantly compute how much time they will have to make up for a part of the course where they must reduce their average speed. Of course, that nomogram is useful for constructing “flight plans,” rather than being used in real time

All nomograms can be viewed on my site and also printed out.

Thanks, Joe! They look great and they are really nice examples of modern uses of nomograms.

Thanks.

Joe

Thank you, Joe! I had indeed seen your impressive nomogram when I was preparing the original series of essays. In fact it was the first one I had ever seen that uses the tangent to a curve to draw an isopleth. Glen Barnett and I shared some email on it and spent some time figuring out that’s done. Since then I’ve found some reference to tangent alignments in Otto’s book “Nomography” and then recently I found a whole chapter on tangent line alignment in Fasal’s book also titled “Nomography” (where he uses the acronym TLA and presents it in detail mostly for the next chapter when he uses it to create his universal nomogram for vector calculations). I haven’t had an opportunity yet to explore this technique and post something on it, so I appreciate you taking the time to bring this nomogram to the attention of readers here. — Ron