How good are you at maths?

No this isn't a quiz lol. Since maths seems to be in the news at the moment I thought I'd share this little story with you.

At school I was a right duffer when it came to maths, our maths teacher largely ignored the kids who didn't show a natural aptitude, so from an early age I accepted I was no good at maths. Years later in the army I kept putting off my EPC course because I was frightened to death of the maths module, after all when it came to maths I was thick. Anyway I was eventually almost ordered to do my EPC. I attended the course at the education center at Alanbooke Barracks (Paderborn) I remember the start of the maths module very well, my pulse was racing I just didn't want to be there. Our teacher was a young and very attractive lady Capt from the education corps. The first thing she asked the class was does anyone struggle with maths? I thought no point in hiding it, I'm about to get found out anyway, so I raised my hand. To my immense relief from a class of twenty students about a dozen hands went up.

After a couple of days I realised that when it came to maths I wasn't thick after all, it's how you're taught. That young lady Capt was a superb teacher and vey enthusiastic about her subject and in no time at all and for the first time in my life I was actually enjoying maths. I passed the maths module with ease which was the biggest boost to my self confidence I think I've ever had, and if the truth is told, I felt a bit of a bloody fool for putting the course of for so long.

One of my favourite subjects at school...

also my favourite subject, I actually studied maths during my last 6months, I was told it was the main thing in getting on my electronics course, well it did turn out to be that way but all went well

Wilf,

Could it have been that the blood started to move around your body and up into the brain at the site of this lady Captain !! Thsi in turn got the gray matter moving and hence you were a maths success.

No Wilf think you got that wrong, that is more like me when I go to the Doctors and he says go to this young nurse for her to test my Blood Pressure, and is then surprised when it is high, what does he expect

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Could it have been that the blood started to move around your body and up into the brain at the site of this lady Captain !! Thsi in turn got the gray matter moving and hence you were a maths success.

Shame on you Jim,,bringing sex into the equation.

I would expect that from Brum not you...tsk tsk

Gordon,

My carefully worded message was not sexual, only highlighting the fact that the brain needs stimulating and the lady Captain was only ONE method of achieving this. Shame on you Gordon for jumping to conclusions. After all said and done, we did our bit at Harrogate in attending Padre's hour. !!!

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Padre's hour. !!!

???????????

Wonder if they do Padre's hour today. I suppose its more like happy hour.

Didn`t do it when i was there.Perhaps we were beyond saving.

We had to do Padre's hour because it was a parade, and you know what happens when you are absent from a parade !!!

jimsigs1 wrote:

We had to do Padre's hour because it was a parade, and you know what happens when you are absent from a parade !!!

You are condemned forever to Hell and Damnation?

I've already dug a hole so that I mess out on the stampede of your shells to hell !! Ha! Ha! Sheldrake

We did those logerritums things still waiting 32yrs on to find a use for them

I think thats pretty much the same all round Johnboy, when doing my electronics I had to use a lot of algebraic equasions and although I had to use them when building a radio I have never had to use them since, I suppose that is mainly because calculators are now so good that the only need for the knowledge is knowing what it is used for

the old adage:- if the pupil hasnt learnt, the teacher hasnt taught

Les, Talking about building radios etc, I started this as a hobby in 1948 due to all the government surplus equipment on sale along where I lived in the Edgware Road, London. Still remember the resistor colour code.

As do I Jimsigs, one of the tasks we had to complete for C&G was to build a superhet radio from scratch, this entailed making the aluminium chassis, hand winding all transformers and coils drilling and siting valve bases and wiring, finally of course you had to make it work

Les

Very interesting Les, a person after my own heart. Remember whilst in Singapore during the mid 1960's purchasing a couple of valve radio kits complete with chassis drilled for valve bases, all wiring, components and cabinet made in the People's Republic of China. It also sported a valve tuning eye. I still have it and is in my garage. Don't think it works though but is there more or less for show amongst my collection of Triumph motorcycle bits & pieces.

As with most trades, when I eventually got a job as radio/tv engineer it was with a very small firm (around 60 shops) and whilst looking around this old shop up in the very top room I found a Bush TV22 (circa early 50s) I spent a lot of my spare time on that and I think it is still in a museum down near Poole somewhere

Les

Les, I purchased an old receiver in about 1954 in London for 5/-. It had a tray which pulled out and listed the 'proposed' stations and their frequencies for the forthcoming year of 1933. Luxembourg was list as 208 metres on the Medium wave.

Thats brilliant Jimsigs, I know they always gave out the 208m medium wave on the actual station but that seems to be a very early reference