LOL !!!
I have to admit to hating these drawing as well, but we use equipment that is clearly marked with the ON position and the numbering of the switches. But just getting him to understand the concept of the binary principle is the really difficult part. He just seems to get confused with the translation of decimal to binary. I really don't want to get to the stage of trying to beat it into him. :-))
I was going to do that in QBasic, and insert the text, only to find I'd have to boot the other machine - and then I'd have my choice of languages.
Surprising how useful Q/Quickbasic can be for using as a custom calculator. Still beats xl/123 for this kind of thing.
with the positions marked 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Now if you could buy a switch marked 1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128 and tell the guy it works like a set of old balance scales with brass weights...
Geo
The last time I saw this, it was in a tagline from someone who frequents this group (I think), and it read:
There are 11 types of people in the world. Those who don't understand binary, those who do but don't get the joke, and those who get the joke.
Hwyl!
M.
Well, when he's mastered this binary mularkey, try telling him that 10 + 10 = 22 in octal ;)
Martin Angove wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@tridwr.demon.co.uk:
You've left out the ones who don't understand binary, so that's 20 kinds.
What's the joke?
mike r
Index cards then. He could carry a stack of those with himin a box. Anyone should be capable of taking out a card with the right number on it and setting the switches up or down to match the picture.
Colin Bignell
That is why I was suggesting a pictorial output from the program - skip the binary stage all together.
He types in the address - it shows a picture of how the dip switches should look (or vice versa)...
Addr Switch ==== ====== __________
12 | ## | on |###### ##| ----------All he has to do then is match the picture without transposing it.
"there are 10 types of people in the world that
Thanks for this line Big Wallop, I've been trying to remember it as I've followed this thread!
I recall some years ago watching schools TV (broken leg in plaster etc) when they covered the binary method. The approach was by using a (cartoon) octupus and illustrating counting to a base of 8 (number of legs on Octupus, geddit?). 8 was called 'Octo'; 9 was 'Octo-one'; 17 was 'twocto-one' etc. It was fun to my daughter and she quickly caught on. They then moved progressively down to a base of 2 and it all made sense (to her anyway). HTH BAH
Can you try him that it's "the limit" for base rather than a descriptive of the top value (which is how I am guessing he sees it)
I wonder if this "effect" is caused by that weird system they teach for adding up by subtracting - or whatever it is they teach them of that sort. (I have to say I can't grasp that one at all, but then I learned the old way, and I'm not that good with mental math either) I can program though, and algebra was always fun I felt. However I have been forced to conclude I wasn't "wired up" right anyway for that alone! ;O)
Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}
Does he struggle with lbs/ozs, 'old money', etc? See if he 'gets' hex or octel numbers.
Paul
AH! Maybe he does not see zero as a digit or valid number!? That could explain it in part. There ARE 2 digits (1 & 0), but maybe he's blind on that bit? If he can see 01234567890 as base ten (ten possible digits), then there's no reason he can see 01 as base 2 (2 possible digits), and if put to him in those terms, I'd say that (assuming he is truly & demonstrably rational), then it proves he's quite possibly pulling your leg about not seeing it!
I know it's cliche, but I really do feel your pain! ;O)
Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}
Yeah, but that's different, because Chemistry really IS all cobblers! ;O)
Note it was the Chemist with the "Foam in the Canoe and everywhere else" problem! It's chemists and the like that wire plugs up gorilla stylee - That tells you just about all you need to know!
Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}
And that's where an old fashioned maths exercise book scores, since the little squares are already ruled in for you! Just block in the ones you want with a felt pen - Using that I've taught 5 women of assorted ages and abilities binary and how to make 8X8 characters sets for computer use, and convert them to comma delimited data lists, and how to debug them where the shapes were not what they wanted. Never lost a patient yet, and they all "got it". This just can not be a hopeless case once you got that info on board!
Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}
How about treating them as "flags" in "positions" or "slots", and saying that the number simply describes the state of the flag in each slot or position? Maybe it's the numbers and the rest of the concept together which is flooring him?
Often explaining why things are called what they are can help too - does he know why a dip switch is so called? That sort of thing - some background like that would get him "an understanding" rather than learning by wrote, which is always slower even if perhaps better in some folks view.
Once you got an understanding, I would venture to suggest it opens to door to having real intuition about a given subject. That would have to help.
Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}
You've just raised a question which is far too dangerous for anyone to actually ask! ;O)
Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}
"Gnube" wrote | And that's where an old fashioned maths exercise book scores, since | the little squares are already ruled in for you! Just block in the | ones you want with a felt pen - Using that I've taught 5 women of
But women are different! They can understand knitting patterns.
Owain
Now I think that might help.
I've tried drawing it on the back of his hand this morning. :-)) He's got 5 heads to set up, so I'm waiting to see if it helping before I go ahead with style sheets that Witchy done for me. I just hope it is really helping him and so far no phone calls. :-))
I see your point about the numbering could be confusing.unfortuantly though in he real world switches are marked 1,2,3,ect as it may not being being used to represent numbers.how i work it out is
number to set switch to:53
switch 1:128 switch 2:64 switch 3:32 switch 4:16 switch 5:8 switch 6:4 switch 7:2 switch 8:1
switch 1 - must be off as the number you want < 128 switch 2 - must be off as the number you want < 64 switch 3 - must be on as the number you want is > 32 - this leaves you with (53-32)=21 switch 4 - must be on as the number you have left is > 16 - this leaves you with (21-16)=5 switch 5 - msut be off as the number you have left is < 8 -you still have 5 left switch 6 - must be on as the number you have left is > 4 - this leaves you with (5-4)=1 switch 7 - must be of as the number you have left is < 2 - you still have 1 left switch 8 - switch 8 is 1 and we have 1 left over so you switch this on
53 = (0*128)+(0*64)+(1*32)+(0*16)+(0*8)+(1*4)+(0*2)+(1*1) 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 off off on off off on off onafter a few of these it becomes automatic
Martin
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