This week, I have been in training.

Learning all about hydraulics and fluid dynamics.

This is a page from my workbook.

You can see where I’ve been using the Hazen-Williams Equation to work out friction losses.

Can’t you?

And today, we have been working on the Benoulli Equation to show how the speed of a fluid will increase or decrease inline with a change in it’s potential energy.

Of course,

I haven’t worked on calculations like this, since I was at college, back in the eighties, so it’s fair to say I’m struggling with it a bit. 

And whilst those around me are all using the calculator function on their phones, I have been using my trusty calculator from my college days.  It’s interesting to see that – like me – it’s not as fast at working out these big sums as its more modern counterparts.

I’m happy to admit, that I’m struggling with it all, a bit.   And even when I think I’ve done one easily and sit back smugly, it normally turns out that I have made a stupid mistake somewhere along the line, which has left me with a result that is nowhere near what it should be.

Whilst I was no Carol Vorderman, or Rachel Riley (I’ve got better legs), I was reasonably good at maths, back in the day.

Where did it all go?