Mechanical calculator with cover removed - photo

[mklotz]

There is Dyscalculia that can make math difficult for some people...

Yes, in 3-6% of the population, far fewer than the number of people who claim they can't learn math.

It reminds me of the dyslexia phenomenon...

Learning disabilities, of which dyslexia is one, occur in about 15% of the population but dyslexia is mentioned in most of the excuses for bad spelling and writing.

[sossol]

There is Dyscalculia that can make math difficult for some people...

I may have that, but I don't think so. Mostly it's my particular mixture of the disorders makes it all but impossible to comprehend anything I can't visualize. The odd thing is that I genuinely like mathematics and statistics. I just can't perform them.

Neil

[Jon]

Dyscalculia; hadn't heard of that one. I'm not minimizing it, but the people who are genuinely born with that disorder have to suffer the association with everyone who wasn't, but still claims it. Like celiac disease and the gluten-free trend.

Seems like whatever is currently trending in society gets a turn at being applied to not learning math. We appear to be backing away from race-based excuses, but this gem from a couple of years ago applied that argument to math instruction: Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction.

AI is really hot right now. Keep an eye out for an AI-themed reason for not learning math.

[Frank S]

I'm looking for an AI theme to block Ai from being on my browsers. No computer generated. virus they call AI. will ever know more about what I am looking for when I'm doing a search than me.

[sossol]

Dyscalculia; hadn't heard of that one. I'm not minimizing it, but the people who are genuinely born with that disorder have to suffer the association with everyone who wasn't, but still claims it. Like celiac disease and the gluten-free trend.

Truth. What I meant in my earlier reply is that if I had it I wouldn't know, not that I suspect that I might. I don't mix up numbers any more than anyone else, I suspect, unless they're phone numbers. I almost always get them wrong. Odd, but harmless.

It took cognitive testing and behavioral therapy to make the connection between my math deficiency and other idiosyncrasies, like that I can learn to play songs on my bass or guitar by ear, but can't parse music theory. I can learn songs, but can't improvise. Music theory is basically tonal mathematics.

Neil

[sossol]

Funny timing, or invasive data acquisition?

This was in my suggested videos on YouTube today. The guy says that some mechanical calculators work my addition only. He uses small words, but it still went over my head. Very interesting, all the same.

Neil

[Duke_of_URL]

I remember the huge metal beast calculators in my Dad's company when I was growing up. It was all they had at the time, and they were frequently being sent to the Office Machine Repair place down the street for a "refurb." One day, while I was at a friend's house, his dad, who sold products for a Japanese manufacturer, asked if we wanted to see something brand new and "revolutionary," which turned out to be a fully electronic, desktop calculator about the size of a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica. He plopped it down, with it's cool Nixie Tube display, and started running through additions, multiplications, and divisions. He would even do a divide by zero, whence it would flash 8's or E's. He went on to explain asymptotic behavior to us 6th graders by asking us what 12 divided by 12 was, then divided by 6, then 4, and 3, 2, 1. He then asked us if we noticed the answers were getting larger and larger? Next he asked what it would be when we divided by zero, which he did, saying it was so large that it is, "infinite." Wow, I'd just gotten a math lesson that made sense! I look back on that event fondly, even though the persons' names have escaped me. As for me, I'd go on to earn my BS and MS in Engineering with a strong emphasis in Electronics and Mathematics. Perhaps that friend's dad that day had lit a fire?

[tooly]

Mechanical calculator with cover removed.

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...y_fullsize.jpg



Previously:

Addifix pocket mechanical calculator - video
1950s Soviet mechanical calculator - GIF
Curta mechanical pocket calculator - photos
Vintage mechanical calculator - photo
Mechanical calculator trying to divide by zero

Kudos to the genius who designed all those levers.

[IntheGroove]

I wouldn't doubt if this guy came up with the idea...

[sossol]

I remember the huge metal beast calculators in my Dad's company when I was growing up. It was all they had at the time, and they were frequently being sent to the Office Machine Repair place down the street for a "refurb." One day, while I was at a friend's house, his dad, who sold products for a Japanese manufacturer, asked if we wanted to see something brand new and "revolutionary," which turned out to be a fully electronic, desktop calculator about the size of a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica. He plopped it down, with it's cool Nixie Tube display, and started running through additions, multiplications, and divisions. He would even do a divide by zero, whence it would flash 8's or E's. He went on to explain asymptotic behavior to us 6th graders by asking us what 12 divided by 12 was, then divided by 6, then 4, and 3, 2, 1. He then asked us if we noticed the answers were getting larger and larger? Next he asked what it would be when we divided by zero, which he did, saying it was so large that it is, "infinite." Wow, I'd just gotten a math lesson that made sense! I look back on that event fondly, even though the persons' names have escaped me. As for me, I'd go on to earn my BS and MS in Engineering with a strong emphasis in Electronics and Mathematics. Perhaps that friend's dad that day had lit a fire?

My dad used to take devices home from work for use to take apart and see how they worked. One time he had a bunch of electric adding machine. At the time I was around 9 or 10, and was more interested in the cool-looking bits and bobs that machines had.

Neil