Subj : packets To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Thu Apr 02 2020 12:17:00 Hi Nancy! BM>>>> And thus artificial intelligence was started! NB>>>> Or at least people think it might really exist... ;) BM>>> It seems to have some minor existance in some people!! NB>>> Are you saying that the intelligence some people exhibit is NB>>> probably artificial....? ;) BM>> Some of the facts they spout seem unreal! NB>> There certainly is that...! But those I just take as signs of lack NB>> of intelligence, not artificial.... ;) BM> Some thoughts just don't seem natural! (There: figured out a play on BM> 'artificial'!) NB> Well, if that's the way you are defining artificial... Artificially?! BM>>>> Of course some events have 'must start here' rules: a math addition BM>>>> problem is done from right to left, though I have done simple ones BM>>>> from left to right. NB>>>> Subtraction and division are even more so... I've done simple NB>>>> ones backwards too... just have to keep track of any carrying NB>>>> happening... BM>>> That is part of the 'trick'! NB>>> And sometimes is a bigger trick than others... BM>> That's true. I only do with shorter numbers (hundreds, thousands is BM>> pushing things) and lined up vertically. NB>> Yup... and not more than two numbers at a time.... Doing the taxes I NB>> get these long strings of numbers to add together... those one has to NB>> do properly, or the carries are impossible to figure... But only NB>> two numbers, I can generally do six or so figures still... lined up NB>> vertically is also important... :) For those long columns of numbers, NB>> I'll do it all pencil and paper, and then check my sum with the NB>> calculator.... I figure it's good mental exercise to do as much as NB>> possible manually... :) BM> It is, and I'll admit to reaching for the calculator too often: more BM> out of uncertainty. When going through school they started me with the BM> "Old Math" and then switch to the "New Math". NB> When I was in maybe 9th or 10th grade, we had a math teacher that NB> decided we should have some exposure to the "new math"... but at NB> least he was careful to keep from confusing us with it.... and it NB> became more of another math tool for us.... As an additional tool probably would have been fine for me but apparently my "new math" was a replacement and undermined what I had learned with the "old math". Anyway, the good news is I generally catch math errors: doing my beginning of the month payments. Either mis-keyed or mis-remembered an entry and when I listed the running total in my credit card journal thought "that's not right". Check: the entry was wrong. BM> I don't remember what the differences are but do know it confused me BM> and while I was decent with the Old Math the 'conversion' broke the BM> rules and I never quite unscrambled them. Can do math manually, and BM> do, just certain number combinations seem to not quite click. NB> As I recall, it was adding into the mix things like algebra and NB> geometry, but not calling them that, just throwing in the NB> concepts that were supposed to help one understand how adding and NB> subtracting and multiplying and dividing related to each NB> other.... for some it was just another layer of NB> MISunderstanding.... What comes to mind for me is a partly NB> remembered Tom Lehrer song about the "New-ew-ew Math", a very NB> humorous take on the confusions it generated in young (and not so NB> young) minds about math.... I must have been one of those confused characters in the song! I did do fairly well in algebra, etc. Didn't take too much 'advanced' math as didn't need to go that deep/'complex'. BM> OTOH have also used the calculator and realized the answer displayed BM> doesn't seem right so there is some sort of mental calculating going on. NB> Which is what my Physics professor Daddy used to refer to as the NB> common sense factor.... paying attention to whether or not the NB> calculator's answer made any sense.... did you forget a decimal NB> point, or add one too early...? Or did you transpose numbers NB> while inputting them...? I always do it both ways, whichever I NB> do first... and use the one to check the other... and if they NB> don't agree, do them both again to find where the glitch is.... NB> :) Your father had a good name for the process! Just because a machine says so, or even someone else, doesn't absolutely mean it's correct/truthful. BM> ... Math problems? Call 1-800-[(10x)(13i)2]-[sin(xy)/2.362x] NB> Speaking of the new-ew-ew math... Do the innermost set first.... And if takes too long just call Directory Assistance! NB> ... Of people born in 1839, 100% who ate carrots are dead! That seems proof enough carrots are bad for you!! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Not Quites: Second Best Western Motel --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .