Mechanical Design Handbook

Posts

Showing posts from May, 2008

Improve math skills of your kids - Learn step-by-step arithmetic from Math games

Math: Unknown - Step-by-step math calculation game for iOS.

Download on the App Store | Facebook | Website

Math: Unknown is much more than a math game. It is a step-by-step math calculation game which will teach users how to calculate in the correct order rather than just asking only the final calculated results.

The app consists of four basic arithmetic operations which are addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In order to get started, users who are new to arithmetic can learn from animated calculation guides showing step-by-step procedures of solving each type of operation. It is also helpful for experienced users as a quick reference.

Generally, addition and subtraction may be difficult for users who just start learning math especially when questions require carrying or borrowing (also called regrouping). The app helps users to visualize the process of carrying and borrowing in the way it will be done on paper. Once users understand how these operations work, they are ready to learn multiplication and division.

For most students, division is considered as the most difficult arithmetic operation to solve. It is a common area of struggle since it requires prior knowledge of both multiplication and subtraction. To help users understand division, the app uses long division to teach all calculation procedures. Relevant multiplication table will be shown beside the question. Users will have to pick a number from the table which go into the dividend. Multiplication of selected number and divisor is automatically calculated, but the users have to do subtraction and drop down the next digit themselves. Learning whole calculation processes will make them master it in no time.

Math: Unknown is a helpful app for students who seriously want to improve arithmetic calculation skills.

Motion Simulation in Solid Edge using sketches together with Microsoft Excel VBA Programming Part I

Solid Edge has a very useful application called " Motion " which allows a user to simulate the movement of mechanical parts. This enables the machine designers to test and make sure that the movement of their mechanism is the same as they expect before manufacturing parts. This helps save a lot of money. However, instead of using " Motion " application, I would like to show you how to simulate the motion of mechanical parts using a sketch in Solid Edge together with Microsoft Excel. Why? Most of the time, I started my mechanical design with the concept and layout using sketches. If we could simulate the motion of mechanical parts in a sketch, it would help me a lot. I got this idea when I was playing with sketches and constraints in Solid Edge . Solid Edge allows us to change the dimensions easily by just rotating the mouse wheel. Watch the following video to see how easy to make the motion in sketch. So what I have to do is just to have Microsoft ...

Microsoft Excel: Goal Seek Technique for solving mechanical engineering design's problems

Problems in mechanical design often require the solution of nonlinear equation such as 3x 3 - 20x 2 + 1000x + 12000 = 0 These problems are sometimes stated in the form, find the zeros or roots of the function f(x) = 3x 3 - 20x 2 + 1000x + 12000 = 0 that is, find the values of x that make f(x) = 0. Therefore, they are sometimes called root solving problems . The equation shown above is a typical equation encountered in the problem of finding the maximum stress at a point. While such equations can be solved by trial and error (simply guessing value until the left-hand side of the equation is nearly zero), there exist simple, systematic ways to solve such problems. Two such methods - the Method of False Position and Newton-Raphson method. The Method of False Position is a systematic method of narrowing down the region in which the root exists. And another one is the Newton-Raphson method of root solving. It is more sophisticate than the Method False Position. It uses...