I’m sure it must be out there somewhere but until then, any suggestions?
Bought a Brunsviga model 20 on a whim to remind me of the machines we used for a brief period at school and I plan to inflict it on my grandson at some point in the future but I have to deal with SWMBOs antipathy to such things at present.
I mean, to me it’s a mechanical work of art but it seems that’s not enough. ;-)
Tim
You could try any sum that results in 5318008, but turning it upside down to see the hilarious result might be more difficult than with a pocket calculator ...
Take it to the supermarket to add up the weekly shop as you push your trolley round.
Calculate the probability of having sex again while still in possession of the mechanical calculator. This may result in a divide by zero error.
Owain
start with something simple
I remember that....
71077345
71077345plus many more....
Start simple get grandson a slide rule.
The great things about doing calculations on such a machine is that for most multiplications and divisions there several combinations of turns that give the correct result, but often one combinations may involve many fewer turns and so be faster.
So for example in the trivial case to multiply by 99 you go nine turns forward, move the carriage one decimal position, nine turns again. or one turn in the -ve direction, so have -1 x number in the top register, then move the carriage across two, and go one forward, so adding 100 x your number, giving 99 times the number in total.
I am sure you can come up with more interesting numbers and try but I am not sure you will get your grandson interested.
When I used to work in an actuarial department the actuaries used to have races to see who could work out a complex the caluculation in the shortest time and/or fewest turns, but our machines did have a back transfer. Not sure yours did.
Dave.
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