Mnemonics

[Rocky]

Another posting on resistor codes gave me an idea. We all learned certain mnemonics in school and it is amazing to me how well they are still remembered. Some have changed over the years. I though it might be fun to list some of them here for all to enjoy. A few I remember are:

My Dear Aunt Sally for the order of arithmetic operations, multiply, divide, add, subtract. This has been altered to Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally to include Parentheses and Exponent.

My Very Elderly Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies for the order of distance of the planets from the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Of course, this is the old order that I was taught before we all learned that Pluto was not a planet. I understand that the new mnemonic is My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles.

Come Over, Sit Down, Maybe Play Poker, Three Jacks Calls Two Queens for the geologic periods Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary

HOMES for the Great Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior

Do Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Silk for biological classification Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Not sure if it's exactly a mnemonic - but as a former physics undergraduate I always liked:

How I need a drink - alcoholic of course - after the heavy chapters involving quantum mechanics!

(Take the number of letters in each word and you get 3.14159265358979, pi to 14 decimal places...)

 

[Rocky]

Not sure if it's exactly a mnemonic - but as a former physics undergraduate I always liked:

How I need a drink - alcoholic of course - after the heavy chapters involving quantum mechanics!

(Take the number of letters in each word and you get 3.14159265358979, pi to 14 decimal places...)

That is a great one that I have never seen. I always used 22/7 to estimate pi. It was close enough for my purposes.

 

[Ohio Bob]

How about SOH CAH TOA?

 

[Rocky]

How about SOH CAH TOA?

Some Of Her Children Are Having Trouble Overcoming Algebra for Sine = Opposite/Hypotenuse, Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse, Tangent = Opposite/Adjacent.

Thought of another: ROY G. BIV for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet for the color order of the spectrum.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Thought of another: ROY G. BIV for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet for the color order of the spectrum.

A rather strange name, no? Growing up in Britain, we had Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain - History and science in one mnemonic

 

[bstnh1]

I have absolutely no idea what this about. Never heard of it. Not sure I want to know!

 

[mikewatkins727]

I have absolutely no idea what this about. Never heard of it. Not sure I want to know!

@bstnh1 : If you were in electronics back in the days of separate capacitors and resistors you would understand. It's an old man's thing. The colors represent a number, when strung together they represent the value of the resistor or capacitor.

 

[bstnh1]

@bstnh1 : If you were in electronics back in the days of separate capacitors and resistors you would understand. It's an old man's thing. The colors represent a number, when strung together they represent the value of the resistor or capacitor.

My Radio Shack experience was limited to buying TV and radio tubes.

 

[jswordy]

@bstnh1 : If you were in electronics back in the days of separate capacitors and resistors you would understand. It's an old man's thing. The colors represent a number, when strung together they represent the value of the resistor or capacitor.

...or it's about something else.

But your example WAS from the days when most items could be fixed, and when many people had the gumption to fix them. That's largely "an old man thing," too.

 

[bstnh1]

...or it's about something else.

But your example WAS from the days when most items could be fixed, and when many people had the gumption to fix them. That's largely "an old man thing," too.

The young folks today don't fix anything. Everything's disposable to them - from shoes to refrigerators. Just throw it out and buy another one. That's why they have practically zero savings and thousands in credit card debt at 30% interest. I actually read a post in a page associated with my local community where someone was asking for a recommendation for a electrician because they had a loose electrical outlet.

 

[winemaker81]

I actually read a post in a page associated with my local community where someone was asking for a recommendation for a electrician because they had a loose electrical outlet.

Some of it is the previous generation, who didn't teach the right lessons.

My father taught me that I could fix most things, and the stuff I didn't learn from him I learned on my own 'cuz I believed I could.

My sons got the same lesson and fix as much of their own stuff as they can. In their teen years, each helped me replace a ceiling fan. Took 30-40 minutes in each case, including clean up. Then we discussed that it would cost at least $75 USD to get an electrician to show up, and there'd be an hours labor on top of that. Made them both think.

As independent adults, both have figured out how to fix things I didn't teach them. Mission accomplished!

 

[bstnh1]

We built a house in 2015. I had bought 2 ceiling fans and I asked the electrician doing our wiring how much to install them. He quoted me $220 each. I put them up!

 

[Rice_Guy]

The young folks today don't fix anything. Everything's disposable to them - from shoes to refrigerators.

Well, as an old fart I live the toss it issue too.
I replaced a decades old stove Friday because the oven was controlled via a board and that part isn’t available. A decade back I worked at an appliance repair store. The old Mix Master had mechanical speed control so could generally be repaired. The new Mix Masters are made in China and have a board for control, that board was not available in the US so we couldn’t fix them. ,, Tech Manuals don’t seem to be printed anymore.
On the positive side You tube is fantastic for showing how to fix things.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

On the positive side You tube is fantastic for showing how to fix things.

Aint that the truth! I've never considered myself a great handyman, however, I now live in the country and regardless of cost it just isn't feasible to call out the repair service every time something goes wrong. But Youtube and various other online resources are a huge help. Last week I took apart our broken washing machine... thanks to online advice and a $25 part it's back to normal now.

 

[Rocky]

My Radio Shack experience was limited to buying TV and radio tubes.

Does anyone remember taking electronic tubes from a radio or TV to the store to try them out on the in-store tester? I remember Sears had one and a number of other stores did too. When our TVs went "on the Fritz" we would examine the tubes that looked burned up, pull the out and take them to the tester. Worked about 75% of the time; the other 25% required a call to the TV repairman.

 

[Rocky]

Aint that the truth! I've never considered myself a great handyman, however, I now live in the country and regardless of cost it just isn't feasible to call out the repair service every time something goes wrong. But Youtube and various other online resources are a huge help. Last week I took apart our broken washing machine... thanks to online advice and a $25 part it's back to normal now.

I am a huge fan of YouTube. I am amazed how I can find my exact model (lawn mower, car, chipper/shredder, etc.) when trying to repair something. It has saved me a lot of bucks over the years.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

I am a huge fan of YouTube. I am amazed how I can find my exact model (lawn mower, car, chipper/shredder, etc.) when trying to repair something. It has saved me a lot of bucks over the years.

The people who POST on YouTube are the real heroes. I have saved $$$ and time. I have learned much.

 

[jswordy]

The people who POST on YouTube are the real heroes. I have saved $$$ and time. I have learned much.

They are making their $$$ too. I usually run though 3-4 vids... Nope, that's dumb... Nope... hey, this guy has something... But wow, this guy really has the technique! Great ideas!

 

[aws1008 aws1008]

The young folks today don't fix anything. Everything's disposable to them - from shoes to refrigerators. Just throw it out and buy another one. That's why they have practically zero savings and thousands in credit card debt at 30% interest. I actually read a post in a page associated with my local community where someone was asking for a recommendation for a electrician because they had a loose electrical outlet.

But that's also because every thing we buy was made in China and is not designed to last. It is made so cheaply that if you could figure out how to fix it it's cheaper (time is money) and faster to replace it!
And if you don't throw it away (a child of depression era parents) you end up with closets full of junk that you'll never get around to fixing