Still on my hobby horse concerning arithmetic and mathematical literacy, I want to tell you about a personal experience. When my children were young, one of them fell and hit his eyebrow against the coffee table in our lounge. This resulted in a deep and painful cut of about 30 mm. He obviously needed medical assistance, so we bundled him into the car and took him to the emergency department of the local hospital.
Vivian MacFadyen
The young doctor was very caring and decided that it was necessary to stitch the wound. He 'weighed' the young chap on their scale in pounds. The anaesthetic dosage was specified in cc/kg. This required some simple arithmetic to convert pounds to kilograms. The conversion factor of 2.204623 was determined from a reference table, and the pounds were converted to the 6th decimal place by multiplying by 2.204623…?...Yes, you are right; division would have arrived at the correct answer! The amount of anaesthetic would have been sufficient for a person with a mass of five times that of the boy. This error could have resulted in severe complications. Fortunately, I was in the emergency ward, noticed the error and the disaster was averted.
In our profession, we are faced with mathematical problems daily, and it is extremely easy to apply a formula incorrectly. Errors can result in financial loss and/or injury or fatalities. Without the benefit of experience and the time to develop a sense of what can be expected, there is no 'feeling' for appropriateness.
With the recent lack of emphasis given to Mathematics and Physical Science in the high schools, it is both dangerous and possibly unfair to expect youngsters entering this industry to be able to apply arithmetic correctly. They have been disadvantaged by the system, and need monitoring and where necessary remedial training. We should make provision for this need and at the same time exercise appropriate caution.
Read more...SAIMC: Durban branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The Durban branch of the SAIMC was pleased to welcome Vusi Sithole, managing member of Hybrid Control Corporation in Richards Bay, who presented\on the very pertinent topic of ‘Infrastructure monitoring and control for water loss management’.
Read more...SAIMC: Sunshine, swings and smiles: Durban Golf Day hits a high note Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control)
SAIMC
We say it every year, and we’ll say it again: May in Durban is hard to beat; but 9 May, when the Durban Golf Day teed off at Kloof Country Club, was something else. With sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 20s, it was a fantastic day, full of fun and great energy.
Read more...SAIMC User Advisory Council KS4I event: Bridging the industry/education divide
SAIMC
Horst Weinert, head of Didactic at Festo Southern/Eastern Africa, will be sharing some of Festo’s Didactic experiences of working across industry and education. He will cover training for productivity and employability in the public and private sectors, discussing especially the potential for inter-company training centres.
Read more...SAIMC: Johannesburg branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The local Johannesburg Branch of the SAIMC recently hosted a Technology Evening at Bryanston Sports Club on 9 April 2025.
Read more...SAIMC: Durban branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The April technology meeting for the Durban branch of the SAIMC was kindly sponsored by ProRisk, a subsidiary company of the Proconics Group of Companies. Process safety engineer, Guillaume de Swardt gave a fascinating presentation on the power of operational risk control by utilising CFD software.
Read more...SAIMC User Advisory Council KS4I event SAIMC Supplier Advisory Council
SAIMC
The SAIMC User Advisory Council started 2025 with its first event in the ‘Knowlege Sharing 4 Industry’ event series on the 19th of March.
Read more...Knowledge Sharing 4 Industry
SAIMC
In proud partnership with Innomotics, SAIMC will be hosting the first Knowledge Sharing 4 Industry event for 2025.
Read more...Getting your OT data into the cloud – the why and the how
SAIMC
As users recognise the benefits of a digital transformation strategy for their industrial plants and systems and start to adopt it, they soon face the challenge of getting operational technology data securely and reliably to a cloud service provider of their choice.
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