Answerbag: redpen's answers http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1436 New Answerbag answers from redpen Tue, 29 May 2012 13:21:30 -0700 Tue, 29 May 2012 13:21:30 -0700 Answer to What is calculus useful for? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4690 What is calculus useful for?<br /><br />Calculus is useful for solving non-linear equations. For example, say you were looking for the area inside a flat rectangle. A flat rectangle is linear, and finding the area would just be a simple matter of multiplying one side to one of the perpendicular sides, or 3 inch times 5 inch equals... Sun, 25 Apr 2004 15:34:05 -0700 http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4690 Answer to What are the differences between AM and FM radio? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4650 What are the differences between AM and FM radio?<br /><br />AM is amplitude Modulation, and FM is Frequency Modulation. With both AM and FM, a carrier wave must be broadcasted. And it is just that... A carrier wave for the information. A greyhound bus for the information you are trying to tune in. (music, etc.). The carrier wave is at a particular... Fri, 23 Apr 2004 14:21:06 -0700 http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4650 Answer to Why do telephone dials have # and * on them and not other symbols? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4648 Why do telephone dials have # and * on them and not other symbols?<br /><br />This is due to beginning economics of the dial themselves. When telephones first went to touch pads, away from the old rotary dials, they used a Matrix style touch pad. The internals of this touch pad were connected where you had 1-2-3 across in the matrix, and a-b-c-d down the matrix. These... Fri, 23 Apr 2004 13:37:04 -0700 http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4648 Answer to What is "negative" voltage? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4643 What is "negative" voltage?<br /><br />Negative Voltage: Man, this is a hard thing to explain, without getting into engineering terminology, and explaining space charge regions, etc. A negative voltage is determined by how the circuit reacts to either hole flow, or electron flow. A hole is an absense of an electron, a... Fri, 23 Apr 2004 12:50:14 -0700 http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4643 Answer to Am I better off just buying a totally new computer with everything included rather than updating individual components of my existing one? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/2020 Am I better off just buying a totally new computer with everything included rather than updating individual components of my existing one?<br /><br />This question has more answers than the meaning of life, so all answers are going to be opinions. My personal opinion is: Never upgrade the Motherboard/Processor combo unless you can double the speed. Someone will gig me on this, for speed is only one component of the big picture on your... Fri, 09 Jan 2004 14:06:38 -0800 http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/2020 Answer to How do I record broadcast radio programs onto my computer? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/2017 How do I record broadcast radio programs onto my computer?<br /><br />There are several ways. The obstacle you have now, is no way for your system to encode. The codecs to encode this are probably already on your system, but you have to tell it to do it somehow. I recommend investing a 20 into recording software like http://www.sound-recorder.info/ which has a... Fri, 09 Jan 2004 13:34:21 -0800 http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/2017 Answer to If I'm using my computer, and a power blackout occurs, is my computer damaged (besides losing recent data)? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/2016 If I'm using my computer, and a power blackout occurs, is my computer damaged (besides losing recent data)?<br /><br />I have to disagree with damaging the hard-drive when a blackout occurs. Modern hard-drive design has eliminated that effect. It is true the heads are tensioned by springs to contact the platters, and the 5400/7200/10000 rpm spinning of the disk cause the heads to &quot;float&quot; mere... Fri, 09 Jan 2004 13:16:33 -0800 http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/2016