On Jan 4, 12:35 pm, " wrote:
...where P is equal to Picture and W is equal to Word(s).

Building an engine -- or an airplane -- there are times when I fail to
provide a lot of detail, partly because I ASSUME everyone KNOWS those
pesky little details. Which makes me something of a fool.

I've taught a college course on Aircraft Systems for Pilots for
maybe ten years now. I found early on that I had to back up a long way
into some basic stuff, since most young folks now have no frame of
reference regarding mechanical, electrical or hydraulic devices, or
even basic hand tools, let alone specialty tooling. I often resort to
using the water-in-a-garden-hose idea to illustrate electrical flow
(pressure, volume and resistance) and have received a few blank looks
from a few who appear never to have fooled with such a thing. City-
bound apartment dwellers, I guess.
So it's not unusual to get questions on really basic stuff. The
problem is to determine how much you really need to cover to get the
most students through without boring the bright ones or dumping vast
volumes of information on them or spoon-feeding the lazy ones.
Students, especially adults, should know enough that they have the
responsibility to go look things up when they don't have enough
background to understand the course.

Dan