On 2011-01-22 15:37, mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
And if they are in a course of study that is designed to prepare one to
design a lens, such math would be in my opinion justified. At that
point it would be for an understanding of subject matter that would be
used whether directly or indirectly. But if that is to teach a
photographer how to get an F stop to exact precision, I'd submit a light
meter would be a better subject. They would need to know if they had to
design the light meter, but that's like saying a nurse and a doctor need
the same courses.
Most of the time, for most situations, you're right.
But what if you're hired to document scientific experiments that are
expensive to carry out, and what you have are theoretical predictions of
the amount of energy released? Then you need to calculate it, and you
can't test it without great expense, that's what -- i.e. you need to
know this. You don't need to have it at the front of your mind all the
time, you don't even have to remember the details, but when the question
comes up (as it will for some percentage) you have to know enough to
figure it out or look it up.
I find that having a real understanding of what I'm doing makes me more
confident manipulating the rules of thumb, too. That may be a personal
quirk.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@xxxxxxxx; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info
