View allAll Photos Tagged precision
Cylindrical Slide Rule.
When I was about fourteen I remember my maths master bringing in the first electronic calculator I had ever seen. It could do addition, multiplication, division and subtraction and had one memory. It cost around £300 in today’s money. By the end of my undergraduate studies I had a programmable scientific calculator that handled trig functions and statistics and cost only £30.
In the sixth form (i.e. years 12 & 13) we used slide rules and books of tables for calculation as calculators weren’t generally allowed in examinations. The slide rule I had was an advanced one, double-sided with trigonometric, log and exponential functions built in.
In many ways slide rules remain superior to calculators. They are fast, intuitive and less prone to errors of data entry. In experienced hands fairly complicated calculations can be done rapidly. They also make it easier to estimate answers and they teach you to handle the powers of ten in a calculation so that they become second nature. These skills become very important at university in a complex subject like Physics as you need to work out whether you are on the right track quickly when you are working a problem.
All slide rules work on the same principle. You can save doing a multiplication of two numbers by converting the numbers to their logarithms and then adding those together, finally converting back to ordinary numbers. In this way a multiplication becomes a simple addition which is way easier. Slide rules work by converting the log numbers into lengths on the rule and by sliding one bit of rule against another you can add the lengths (literally) and then read back the total length to convert back to the normal numbers.
The main drawback with slide rules is precision. An ordinary slide rule can work to about three significant digits whereas calculators work at eight or more. Of course precision doesn’t buy you much if you have entered the wrong figures into the calculator in the first place.
The precision is determined by the length of the slide rule: they’re normally about a foot long. Any longer and you have problems getting them in your briefcase :)
This is an image of my father’s precision slide rule. It gets around the length problem by spiralling the scale around a cylinder. The cylinder is in three parts that can rotate independently the scales on the top and bottom parts with a sliding sleeve in between. Collapsed down it is about six inches long, but the scale is equivalent to a slide rule about five and a half feet in length!
This is a picture of the top scale and part of the central sleeve, on top of some of the instructions for the device (an Otis King model “L” if you are a detailophile :) ).
I created this for the Macro Mondays Back In The Day theme this week. The exposed area of the scale is 1.3 inches so we are within the limits for the group - yey! Also for 7DWF :)
Thank you for taking time to look. I hope you enjoy the image! Happy Macro Mondays!!
[Indoors with light from window; tripod mount; remote release; focused in LiveView; VR off.
Processed in Lightroom with the colour balance set to accentuate the brown tinge in the instructions paper; exposure and contrast set to create a bit of ambience; rotated to give a stronger diagonal, and cropped.
Into Affinity Photo for some healing of dust spots; sharpened with a bit of Clarity filter and Unsharp Mask; slight, carefully constructed vignette to keep the highlights on the knurling top right, but to draw us in a bit. Then we’re done :)]
Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise. The movies would have been a whole lot shorter if they'd put in the practice!
this building is silver grey, as you can see in the top part. Because of the shadow, it gets a blue hue that I have not corrected. However, I have corrected the verticals.
One of my tries for MM 'intended contact' theme, which I realised would be good for 118 pictures 'precision' category.
118 pictures in 2018 (12) precision
Archive shot for ANSH 118 (3) keys
. . . For my first "photo walk"after having ankle replacement surgery 5 weeks ago, I choose to walk a whole 30 feet into the shade of the Holiday Inn in Traverse City, and watch the incredible Blue Angels do their stuff! Wow!
My kind of photo walk for now, hopefully off crutches in a few weeks! Not sure how I got burnt to a crisp sitting in the 96 degree shade, I blame the water reflection!
Have a great weekend and stay cool if you are at this show!
Balance and precision - Stonechat - female, Hampshire.
HFF everyone :)
Info from the RSPB
Conservation status: Green
Stonechats are robin sized birds. Males have striking black heads with white around the side of their neck, orange-red breasts and a mottled brown back. Females lack the male's black head, but have brown backs and an orange tinge to their chests. Birds are frequently seen flicking their wings while perched, often doing so on the tops of low bushes. As its name suggests, birds utter a sharp loud call that sound like two stones being tapped together. They breed in western and southern parts of the UK, but disperse more widely in winter.
Family
Chats and thrushes (Turdidae)
Cherry red heated, horse shoe being sized and shaped on the miniature anvil that he carries in his work truck.
Engineers precision square and centre finder, made by Moore and Wright in Sheffield, England.
Lens Cimko M series 28mm Macro F2.8 at F5.6.
I saw him working through the open door of his tiny space.
"May I make some photos?", I asked politely.
"Go ahead," he answered and went straight on back to his work. He didn't lift his head, not even when I walked out and thanked him kindly.
# 22 Clocks / Watches
119 Pictures in 2019
Seen on a overcast muggy day moored up on the River Mersey at Birkenhead with Liverpool's world famous Liver Building in the background. The bright colours of the newly repainted ship jump out at you from the subdued surroundings.
Eastern kingbird (Tyran tritri)
Tyrannus tyrannus
Wellsville, New York
To see more, click my Birds et Oiseaux set.
Quonset State Airport Airshow and Open House 2015
The Blue Angles at the Rhode Island Airshow 2015. Traffic was horrendous getting to the show. Especially on Route 403. It took one hour to drive the last six miles to the airport. Even watched the Canadian Snowbirds performing while on the highway. Trekked a two mile round trip on foot with camera equipment and tripod, I didn't use due to the crowds. The icing on the cake was seeing this spectacular team perform at day's end. Beautiful weather and lots of great performers.
My appreciation and thanks to all of you that have commented awarded, and faved.