They use electricity of course! This is not likely to be the answer you will find in the new book by the same title just published by Wiley and authored by Clive “Max” Maxfield and Alvin Brown. The idea of the book is over five years old, as I remember talking to Max about it from my basement office in Niwot Colorado, but, just as good wine, things take time to it properly. And of course both Max and Alvin also need to work for a living, so the book was the result of hard labor in their spare time. The book is perfect for students and those among us who aspire to really understand what is going on in those gismos we use to justify having forgotten the multiplication tables. The prose is easy to read, the lab exercises well designed. There are more pages dedicated to exercises than to the narrative. And the book also contains a CD ROM that provides a virtual computer/calculator to allow further experimenting.

Max and Alvin have created a website, www.DIYCalculator.com, as a companion to the book and have on-going projects to enrich its contents, especially for educators and practicing engineers.

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