Page 40 - MY STORY

pleasant demeanor, and said “yes, Ben, there a lot of math

terms to deal with, but you might consider getting started
by getting a really big piece of gridded paper so you can
have a lot of columns where each column might contain a

piece of data or some derived math function. It might
take a few days or a week, but you should be able to find
what you’re looking for.”

In those days we had what we called desk pads, which
were 24” x 36” pads of quadrille ruled paper. I grumbled

a bit but set up the appropriate rows and columns to work
the problem. Charlie was right. It took time, patience, a

need to double and triple check every number and
calculation, but damned if it didn’t work. I found that I
could drop the calculation after the third term in the series
equation, and arrive at a numerical solution more easily. I

no idea that this approach would express itself as an Excel
Spreadsheet decades later.

Also, the value of using large pieces of paper, rather than
a computer screen, for deriving complex program plans

became a standard for me that is in place to this day. Ask
any of the folk that worked for me.