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Article #4778Re: How do you draw a straight line?
From: Robert Firth
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1992 12:10
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1992 12:10
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In article <1992Oct6.030213.20215@galois.mit.edu> jbaez@riesz.mit.edu (John C. Baez) writes: >The compass is nice because it works straight from the definition of a >circle, while a ruler, as you note, is not so nice since it does not >work from the definition of a straight line as the shortest path between >two points. However, there is a machine that has been built which draws >straight lines "by definition." Alas, I forget how it works. Gee, we did this in school - don't they do it any more? You draw a straight line by taking a thread covered in chalk dust, and stretching it between the two points. Then snap the taut thread against the blackboard to get a chalk line. That "machine" does follow from the Euclidean definition.
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!dtix!darwin.sura.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!firth From: firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) Newsgroups: sci.physics Subject: Re: How do you draw a straight line? Message-ID: <1992Oct6.121036.15029@sei.cmu.edu> Date: 6 Oct 92 12:10:36 GMT References: <1992Oct2.224220.24242@access.usask.ca> <1992Oct5.154211.21663@ecrc.de> <1992Oct6.030213.20215@galois.mit.edu> Organization: Software Engineering Institute Lines: 13