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Avi

27 Mar 2007 27 Mar '07

2:29 a.m.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 We are quoted in this month's issue of Focus, the Mathematical Association of America's newsletter, on page 5, for bringing a source for the term "spline". PDF link here: http://www.maa.org/pubs/march07web.pdf - --Avi

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---- User:Avraham pub 1024D/785EA229 3/6/2007 Avi (Wikipedia-related Key) <avi_wiki(a)yahoo.com> Primary key fingerprint: D233 20E7 0697 C3BC 4445 7D45 CBA0 3F46 785E A229 --------------------------------- No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started.

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George Herbert

27 Mar 27 Mar

5:52 p.m.

On 3/26/07, Avi <avi_wiki(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

...

We are quoted in this month's issue of Focus, the Mathematical Association of America's newsletter, on page 5, for bringing a source for the term "spline". PDF link here: http://www.maa.org/pubs/march07web.pdf

Ahhhh... Darn it, and that article [[Spline (mathematics)]] sources it to a much more recent derivation than is correct (see [[Spline (device)]]), though it's sourced. *bang head on the wall* We've become a reliable source for a scientific publication. With info from a published reliable source. Which is wrong - it quotes the origin as recent (WW II aircraft building, as opposed to the correct shipbuilding origin in the middle ages, which [[Spline (device)]] alludes to but doesn't go far enough explaining). And moreso, our [[Spline (mathematics)]] article lifts several sentences worth of material from cited source (http://www.netlib.org/na-digest-html/98/v98n26.html#1) without direct reference, probably a copyvio. *bang head on the wall again* -- -george william herbert george.herbert(a)gmail.com

Stan Shebs

6:05 p.m.

George Herbert wrote:

...

On 3/26/07, Avi <avi_wiki(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

Ahhhh... Darn it, and that article [[Spline (mathematics)]] sources it to a much more recent derivation than is correct (see [[Spline (device)]]), though it's sourced. *bang head on the wall*

Yep, the work of scholarship is never done... :-) But I think that's the real beauty of WP, that it's a giant scratchpad where we all collect notes on what the different sources are saying, especially those in specialized areas that haven't talked to anybody outside the specialty in decades. Even the lowly disambiguation pages are assemblages of multiple meanings that have never been put together before. Stan

Jussi-Ville Heiskanen

28 Mar 28 Mar

12:39 a.m.

On 3/27/07, Avi <avi_wiki(a)yahoo.com> wrote: We are quoted in this month's issue of Focus, the Mathematical Association of America's newsletter, on page 5, for bringing a source for the term "spline". PDF link here: http://www.maa.org/pubs/march07web.pdf I fear we at wikipedia, and consequently that MAA article as well has it wrong. I rather suspect that splines were used already by folks copying illustrated manuscripts way back int the day, well before aeronautics had significantly progressed beyond flapping wing mechanisms. -- -- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]

George Herbert

1:24 a.m.

On 3/27/07, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen <cimonavaro(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

I haven't got any evidence of that, and think it unlikely; the actual wood used for classical splines, even small thin pieces, doesn't bend nearly tightly enough to curve around in illustrated manuscript sized drawings. Modern hand illustrators do it largely freehand, and I have never seen one use a spline. On the other hand, I have in my library some of the very early professional publications in Naval Architecture, and they all reference using splines when they talk about designing and lofting, back into the late 1700s at least. -- -george william herbert george.herbert(a)gmail.com

Andrew Gray

4:01 p.m.

On 28/03/07, George Herbert <george.herbert(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

On the other hand, I have in my library some of the very early professional publications in Naval Architecture, and they all reference using splines when they talk about designing and lofting, back into the late 1700s at least.

Quoth the OED: Spline, n. [Orig. E. Anglian dial.: perh. for splind (cf. older Da. splind, NFris. splinj) and related to SPLINDER n.] 1. a. A long, narrow, and relatively thin piece or strip of wood, metal, etc.; a slat. 1756 S. WHITE Collat. Bee-Boxes (1759) 26, c. c. are two Splines of Deal to keep the Boards even and strengthen them. "to spline" doesn't appear until the 1890s, and "spline curve" in maths not until 1946. -- - Andrew Gray andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk

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Andrew Gray
Avi
George Herbert
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Stan Shebs