RE: Education (Was Re: Techwriting After the Boom)

[John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>]

The elements are real, but that has nothing to do with it. The formula is
the only real thing. It describes a concept. What e is, doesn't
matter....what matters is what e equals, and what it equals is something
called m times the square of something call c.

The formula would be equally true (if the natural laws agreed) if e was
steam, m was water, and c was heat...if e was weight gained, m was the
number of times eaten and c was a Twinkie. The formula represents a
value...the fact that the elements of the formula stand for something is
immaterial...what only matters is that in combination, the values work out
mathematically.

The concept comes before the concrete.

I describe the concept of SQL. I then explain it in terms that apply to the
system at B&N.com, so they know what to do with it, but that doesn't change
the fact that SQL is concept even if B&N.com doesn't exist. 

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
Barnes&Noble.com
jposada -at- book -dot- com
NY: 212-414-6656
Dayton: 732-438-3372
"There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream
of things that never were, and ask why not?"
-----Robert Francis Kennedy, 1968 presidential campaign
> 
> But the elements of e=mc2 are very real things:  
> energy, mass and the speed of light. 
> The concept was extracted from thinking about real, 
> physical observations and the very real questions of why 
> the speed of light was not influenced by the "ether wind" 
> and what measurements would be constant across various 
> frames of reference.
> 
> Jim Shaeffer (jims -at- spsi -dot- com)
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: John Posada [mailto:JPosada -at- book -dot- com]
> >
> > e=mc2
> > 
> > That was a concept way before it was possible to actually 
> > create energy, even though it formed the basis for a 
> > concrete example several years later.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Robohelp X3, from eHelp, lets you quickly and easily create 
professional Help systems for all your Windows and Web-based 
applications, including Net.

Buy RoboHelp Office X4 by June 13th and receive
$100 mail-in rebate, Plus FREE RoboHelp Plus Pack.

Order RoboHelp today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.