Similarly, if one has never learned to estimate, one will be totally dependent on the calculator's answer ... and never know for sure if it's even close to displaying the correct answer to the problem. Knowing approximately what the right answer is is critical in using a calculator. (or ETD) One of the responsibilities of a secretary I once had was to add up all the checks at the end of the week, to make a deposit. At that time I was charging about $35 per tuning, and most of the checks for about that amount. I had about 15 checks, but when I went to make a deposit, the total amount she had put down was about $1500. She didn't know that multiplying $35 times 15 is NOT $1500. Obviously she had entered one or two checks as $350, instead of $35. This is why it's important to know what a piano is supposed to sound like, to make sure all the right buttons were pushed. Wim -----Original Message----- From: John Formsma <formsma at gmail.com> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Mon, Jan 31, 2011 4:05 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] ETD dust storm I use a calculator because I became accustomed to it in college core engineering courses. And it's faster, and more accurate ... as long as I hit the correct buttons. <G> We are arguing about how the "buttons" match with reality, right? If one doesn't know what aural perfection is, how can one tell when you've hit the wrong "button"? Similarly, if one has never learned to estimate, one will be totally dependent on the calculator's answer ... and never know for sure if it's even close to displaying the correct answer to the problem. Which is what some have been saying in this discussion: One must be able to know where the target is before he can proclaim he has hit said target. The math I mostly do these days is adding up checks on a deposit slip. And if I were to put the calculator away, I'd be faster with a paper and pencil. And at least as accurate. Now, get into to larger numbers, I'd be using an electronic calculation aid. <G> Seriously, now, this brings up a thought. I think we tend to think wrongly of aural tuning as this somehow vastly complex and irreducible problem ... this really weird and far out stuff like quantum physics or something. It is complex at first, and it is hard to learn. However, it is not nearly so metaphysical as we think, despite what D. Andersen says <G>. The more we chip away at it, the more we realize that it's just a puzzle. And the more we look at a puzzle, the better we can piece it together. My thinking is that folks just don't try long enough. They get a few of the basics -- enough to do an adequate job. Then they find an ETD and never add enough more of the right stuff to what they already knew. Then their ears get dull. It's like a schoolchild who can add a one or two single or double-digit numbers. Then he is suddenly presented with adding streams of multiple digit numbers. He freaks, because it's way beyond his ability. To him, it's a vastly complex and irreducible problem. Then someone hands him a calculator and says, "Here, kid ... let me show you how to use this --it will make it easier." So he becomes accustomed to never learning how numbers work together. And he remains in the sad position of thinking that it's impossible to learn how to quickly add columns of numbers. I see both sides of the argument. Really I do. I just remain firmly on my side. <G> -- JF On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 7:35 PM, Bill Fritz <pianofritz50 at aol.com> wrote: John, so why your "continual use of a calculator"? Perhaps because it's more accurate... all the time?? I guess I should refrain from asking you what you do when your calculator's batteries die... me, I either install new ones or grab the back-up unit and keep on calculating... BFritz From: John Formsma <formsma at gmail.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] ETD dust storm Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:48:06 -0600 <SNIP> Same with adding and subtracting. When I was in school, I could add and subtract a lot better on paper (and in my head) than I can now. Years of continual use of a calculator eroded that ability. -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110131/32e898ef/attachment.htm>
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