> It appears that you missed out on Mind-Reading 101 in your engineering
> training. :=)

There does seem to be a lot of basic common sense missing from engineering
education.  One problem is that much attention is focused (rightfully so)
on the details of the math and physics that the bigger picture is often
forgotten.

We had a first semester freshman course at RPI called "Elementary
Engineering".  One of the problems was a real eye opener for me.  The
problem was something like:

"You've been hired by a rock band to spec out a generator system so that
they can perform outdoors away from available power lines.  The generator
needs to be at least 100m from where the band performs due to the noise.
You've measured the worst case current draw, and all the equipment
requires 20A at 110V."  (I'm making up the numbers, don't try to calculate
from these)

Among other things, we were to specify the gauge of the cable between the
generator and the stage equipment, and were given a chart of gauges with
current capacities, voltage drops, prices, etc.  All in all the object was
to meet the requirements for the lowest cost.

I, like most everyone else, carefully did the calculations and determined
that one of the wire guages was just enough, and proudly handed this in
along with the other specifications.  The first thing the professor asked
was "who specified 20 guage (or whatever it was) cable"?  Most of the
class raised their hand, including me (the remainder of the class didn't
because they were clueless and didn't understand the problem in the first
place).  The professor then said we were all wrong.  Some of the students
started arguing about it while I went over my caclculations again.  The
professor let them go thru the arguments about how only 97% of the cable's
capacity was being used, and that the next larger size would be XX more
expensive.  To everyone's surprise, the professor agreed that this was
correct and that there was nothing wrong with our calculations.

The point was that 97% capacity was cutting it too close.  We were hired
to solve a problem.  When something failed during a performance, waving a
bunch of calculations in their face showing it shouldn't have happend
wasn't going to help.  A few more dollars for a larger cable is nothing
compared to the cost of having to abort a performance in the middle.

This put all us eager beaver freshman in our place.  I'll never forget
that experience and hopefully the lesson that went with it.  Thank you
professor DeCesare.


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Embed Inc, embedded system specialists in Littleton Massachusetts
(978) 742-9014, http://www.embedinc.com

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