[ale] [OT] Software and file formats for on-line/correspondence chemical education

[Ron Frazier]

I was once teaching a basic math class at DeVry.  I spent most of a 
class period and filled up two white boards doing this exact type of 
conversions.  My hypothetical question to the class was, how many dollar 
bills (assuming 6" long) would it take to reach end to end to and from 
the moon if the moon is 100,000 mi. away (I don't really know how far 
away the moon is).  It was quite interesting, and the example, which I 
made up on the spur of the moment, turned out to be a bit harder and 
longer to solve that I thought.  However, I think I made my point of how 
critical it is to keep track of all the units at each point and write 
your ratios in the right order, so if you need inches / ft., you don't 
write ft. / inch.  We finally got the answer, using no automated 
conversions on the calculator at all.  I was rather proud of the 
example, but I think the students were glad when the bell rang.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 1/21/2012 10:37 AM, Tom Freeman wrote:

<snip>

> To continue with a sequence of conversions:
>                      _75.2 in_ = _?_ cm_
> convert in ->  cm      1 in       2.54 cm  ===>  191.008 cm
>
>                      _191.008_cm   = _?_m_
> convert cm ->  m      100 cm         1 m   ===>  1.91008 m
>
>                      _1.91008_m_  = _?_Km_
> convert m ->  Km      1000 m        1 Km   ===>  0.00191008 Km
>
>    

-- 

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Ron Frazier

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