Steal From Yourself

Something Worth Knowing

With a working life as long as mine, I had plenty of material, although some of it would take longer to explain than anyone would reasonably want to listen.

I worked for a company called English Numbering Machines, a couple of years after I left school. It concerned the design of a communications board for a meat-weighing machine, a task that had once occupied my attention far more completely than its description might suggest.

There was an obvious story to take from it: the difficult circuit and the satisfaction of making something work, but I had already told that story on Medium, and the challenge wanted something new.

In order to complete the design, I had to use Boolean Algebra logic, and luckily the design worked first time when built. I had only learnt all about logic diagrams at that point in order to complete the work. As it turned out, Texas Instruments copied my design and produced a chip from it. Not that I minded at the time, but thinking out in now, they could have at least said thank you officially.

I had thought that idea belonged to my past. Then I considered what I do now.

Writing a Book

Around 10 years ago, I decided to write a book and self-publish on Amazon KDP. I picked the subject of Boolean Algebra because I still remembered a great deal about it from years ago. What I did not do at the time was see how many books on the same subject were already on Amazon KDP.

Writing the book, fixing the layout and designing the front and back covers was long and arduous. Eventually I finished the book to Amazon’s satisfaction and it went on sale at $9.95.

I waited to see if the money would roll in, but it did not! One of my wife’s friends, after being told I had written a book, accidently bought a Kindle copy. To date, that is the only purchase as my book was one of very many on the same subject. The same thing applied to the next book I wrote on AI (no sales).

It is so easy to publish a book on Amazon KDP, but so hard to sell it!

Superprof

Two years ago, I received an email from Soperprof looking for people to teach online. I thought this was an ideal opening for me so filled out all the registration details and was accepted.

I had to register as a mathematician as there was no separate Boolean Algebra category. That was acceptable as I do have university-level mathematics.

On my profile I put Boolean Algebra as a teaching subject as well as some other mathematics subjects.

I did not hear anything for many months, until last year a lady from the US requested four lessons on Boolean Algebra so she could pass her university paper on that subject.

That was fine for me as I had all the pages from my book in which to show and teach her. WE covered AND, OR, NAND, Exclusive OR and invertor gates.

For the next lesson I covered Venn diagrams, logic circuits and a few logic theorems.

The last lessons involved me addressing previous university papers on Boolean Algebra and logic. It is lucky that the lessons were a couple of days apart as I obviously needed the time to go through the papers myself so I could teach her how to solve the problems.

It is fortunate I had solved the logic diagram for the English Numbering Machines meat weighing machine as without that background I would have probably failed to explain how to solve the problems to my student.

I ended getting up a five-star review.

Conclusion

Today, I teach logic to pupils through Superprof. The principles I learnt at English Numbering Machines have travelled much further than I could have imagined while I was first learning them.

The circumstances have changed considerably. The person trying to understand the diagram may be looking at it on a screen, and the subject may belong to a course that did not exist when I began work.

Nevertheless, an AND gate still requires its inputs as does the OR gate. The years have not persuaded it to accept a convincing excuse instead.

There is something pleasing about teaching knowledge that has survived so much technological change. Equipment becomes obsolete, companies alter or disappear, and the tools of a profession can become museum exhibits, but an underlying principle can remain useful.

The challenge is remembering that useful knowledge does not automatically become a useful explanation. Understanding something yourself and helping someone else understand it are two separate roles.