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Re: Slocum's lunars
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2003 Dec 13, 19:27 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2003 Dec 13, 19:27 EST
Jan Kalivoda wrote:
"Slocum's mention about the error in logarithmic tables cannot be explained
as a hint at his own error, which he sought to hide by pretext of erroneous
tables. Such tricks are common for beginners that failed the resolve the
task"
I am not refering to a trick. I am not refering to a deliberate attempt to blame the logarithm tables for his own error. I am talking about a common human behavior. Do you ever shoot pool or billiards or any similar game that involves knocking balls around on a table (not a logarithm table, a *table* table)? Have you ever seen someone shoot badly and then immediately pick up the chalk or carefully examine the cue for some defect? I saw this just last night, but you will see it anytime people play the game. Or have you seen someone trip while walking on a sidewalk and then turn back studying the crack as if to magnify its importance and soften the blow to the ego? This is normal behavior. And it would be quite NORMAL for a person out of practice at doing lunars to believe that there must be something wrong with the log tables when things don't work out the way they should on the first pass. Indeed, years of experience --with a long fallow period in between-- makes this sort or reaction more common. It's not "fraud" or misrepresentation. It's just human nature.
I'm not saying that I *know* this is what happened. I'm just trying to describe my reading of the passage, so that you don't get the mistaken impression that I'm suggesting deliberate misrepresentation. Far from it.
Frank E. Reed
[X] Mystic, Connecticut
[ ] Chicago, Illinois
"Slocum's mention about the error in logarithmic tables cannot be explained
as a hint at his own error, which he sought to hide by pretext of erroneous
tables. Such tricks are common for beginners that failed the resolve the
task"
I am not refering to a trick. I am not refering to a deliberate attempt to blame the logarithm tables for his own error. I am talking about a common human behavior. Do you ever shoot pool or billiards or any similar game that involves knocking balls around on a table (not a logarithm table, a *table* table)? Have you ever seen someone shoot badly and then immediately pick up the chalk or carefully examine the cue for some defect? I saw this just last night, but you will see it anytime people play the game. Or have you seen someone trip while walking on a sidewalk and then turn back studying the crack as if to magnify its importance and soften the blow to the ego? This is normal behavior. And it would be quite NORMAL for a person out of practice at doing lunars to believe that there must be something wrong with the log tables when things don't work out the way they should on the first pass. Indeed, years of experience --with a long fallow period in between-- makes this sort or reaction more common. It's not "fraud" or misrepresentation. It's just human nature.
I'm not saying that I *know* this is what happened. I'm just trying to describe my reading of the passage, so that you don't get the mistaken impression that I'm suggesting deliberate misrepresentation. Far from it.
Frank E. Reed
[X] Mystic, Connecticut
[ ] Chicago, Illinois
