[MATHEDCC] Forwarding mail

Brian Smith (smithb@management.mcgill.ca)
Sun, 3 Aug 1997 05:12:44 -0400

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>Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 23:45:29 -0600
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>From: Randy Hudson <pedal@verinet.com>
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>Reply-To: Randy Hudson <pedal@verinet.com>
>
>I've been reading these postings for some months now, but I haven't posted
>anything ... until now.
>
>The discussion about partial credit grading has brought the hypothetical
>engineer into the discussion. I am a real engineer, I have taught
>mathematics in community college, and I give partial credit. First, let's
>look at the nature of engineering:
>
>If you are a certified professional engineer designing a safety-related
>structure, someone will check your calculations or they will be done with a
>computer-aided calculation package. The calculations will be right.
>
>What matters in a case like this is whether the engineer has seen all the
>possibilities and done all the relevant calculations, not whether he has
>gotten a particular calculation right. The classic bridge example is the
>Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge, which failed due to an unexpected resonance.
>
>By the way, the engineer who designed the bridge did recognize what the
>problem was shortly after the resonance began in a light but steady wind,
>and formulated a solution that would have saved the bridge. The authorities
>prevented him from implementing his simple solution because they would not
>allow him (or any one else) out on the bridge because it was too dangerous -
>as if the bridge's designer didn't know exactly how dangerous it was.
>Shortly after the bridge's collapse, he committed suicide.
>
>My engineering career was somewhat different. I designed electronic
>instruments (or parts of them) for Hewlett-Packard. If I did a calculation
>wrong, the circuit didn't work - and I did build every circuit I designed.
>What mattered in my case was whether I had taken all the possible component,
>temperature, and usage variations into account so that with normal
>manufacturing tolerances the product could be manufactured to specs and
>operate dependably no matter how the customer used it.
>
>Though my product was very different from a bridge, the focus was the same.
>The bridge designer must produce a single, untestable design that must work.
>My work involved a somewhat testable design that nevertheless could not be
>completely tested because it involved knowing (or imagining) all possible
>tolerances and ways of use.
>
>So, if an engineer doesn't get the answer right the first time he does a
>calculation, it really doesn't matter (usually). Someone will check it or
>he'll find out that it doesn't work. He (or she) will eventually get a
>correct answer, it just might not be a complete answer. The good engineer
>doesn't just do one calculation right, he must understand the problem and
>know what questions to ask.
>
>OK, so I'm now semi-retired, and I taught "intermediate" algebra at the
>local community comunity college (AIMS) for a year or so. I gave partial
>credit because I thought I was supposed to teach algebra, and some of the
>students couldn't do arithmetic. They seemed to understand the concepts of
>algebra, but they couldn't factor a polynomial because they could not do
>simple arithmetic (2*3=5). I could give partial credit, or I could teach
>arithmetic. I also took off credit for the right answer with no support.
>
>In every class there was at least one student who seemed to know what he was
>doing, but could never learn to show his work. That is, this kind of student
>could not write down a coherent explanation of how he solved a problem.
>
>That student would have made a lousy engineer.
>
>Yours truly,
>
>Randy Hudson
>P.S. Bicyclists check out my Web Page at http://www.verinet.com/~pedal
>
>
>
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______________________________________________________________________

Brian E. Smith

McGill University
1001 Sherbrooke St. West
Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1G5
TEL: 514-398-4007
FAX: 514-931-3567
EMAIL: smithb@management.mcgill.ca

_______________________________________________________________________

It is not certain that everything is uncertain. Blaise Pascal (1670)
_______________________________________________________________________

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