Levels of math necessary for truly understanding scaling, etc.

[Ric Brekne]

Hi Dave Stahl

Exactly the Calculating Technician was a series of articles in the journal meant to make understanding the concepts and formulas used easy and unintimidating for just about anyone... a  kind of  "how to rescale for the complete dummie"  article.

If one takes the time to read it thoroughly I think one will find it far more easy to understand then perhaps at first it may seem.

As far as math levels generally  are concerned.  I think many let themselves get way too put off by the maths and physics levels typically used in discussions on this list.  Most of the stuff if not the overwhelming majority is sophmore/junior highschool level at best.  Learning this stuff is very doable. 

My experience is that most kids who do poorly in math do so because its presented/taught in a hopelessly boring maner... ofte times by teachers who dont really understand some basic pedogogic prinsiples to begin with.  Put the average kid in an environment with a brilliant teacher who knows math... and it becomes an exciting game... a huge puzzle that is both catching and fun.  The idea that so many of us are gifted one way or the other is IMHO grossly overstated.

Cheers
RicB




------------------------------
Well, now with software like P-scale and whatever else, you can
probably re-scale a piano without mathematically understanding
all the concepts involved.  But from the books I've read on
piano design and scaling, it looks like nothing more complex
than algebra is used.  Glancing through "The Calculating
Technician," I see some complex/lengthy formulae, but no
calculus or analytical geometry.  Not even trig, I don't think.
Mainly algebra.
    --David Nereson, RPT