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Article #4640Re: How do you draw a straight line?
From: SCOTT I CHASE
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 19:46
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 19:46
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In article <BvMKq8.MoG@comp.vuw.ac.nz>, harper@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (John Harper) writes... >In article <1992Oct2.224220.24242@access.usask.ca> choy@skorpio.usask.ca (I am a terminator.) writes: >>How do you know that the line you draw is really straight? >Machine tool makers faced this at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution >around 200 years ago. The practical test used was: take 3 bars of iron, work >on all 3 with a hand file until any two fit together either way round with >no gaps visible anywhere. Now you can think about making your first lathe... Nowadays, I would consider using a laser. Laser beams are VERY straight, though not perfectly so, of course. -Scott -------------------- Scott I. Chase "The question seems to be of such a character SICHASE@CSA2.LBL.GOV that if I should come to life after my death and some mathematician were to tell me that it had been definitely settled, I think I would immediately drop dead again." - Vandiver
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!csa3.lbl.gov!sichase From: sichase@csa3.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) Newsgroups: sci.physics Subject: Re: How do you draw a straight line? Date: 5 Oct 1992 11:46 PST Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA Lines: 18 Distribution: world Message-ID: <5OCT199211465265@csa3.lbl.gov> References: <1992Oct2.224220.24242@access.usask.ca> <BvMKq8.MoG@comp.vuw.ac.nz> NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41