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2020 | Book

Introduction to the Math-Based Writing System Read chapter Read first chapter

A Math-Based Writing System for Engineers

Sentence Algebra & Document Algorithms

Author: Prof. Dr. Brad Henderson

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik"

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About this book

This book presents the generative rules for formal written communication, in an engineering context, through the lens of mathematics. Aimed at engineering students headed for careers in industry and professionals needing a “just in time” writing resource, this pragmatic text covers all that engineers need to become successful workplace writers, and leaves out all pedagogical piffle they do not. Organized into three levels of skill-specific instruction, A Math-Based Writing System for Engineers: Sentence Algebra & Document Algorithms guides readers through the process of building accurate, precise sentences to structuring efficient, effective reports. The book’s indexed design provides convenient access for both selective and comprehensive readers, and is ideal for university students; professionals seeking a thorough, “left -brained” treatment of English grammar and “go to” document structures; and ESL engineers at all levels.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction to the Math-Based Writing System
Abstract
No matter where you are from around the globe, if you’re an engineer, it’s almost certain that you can read, write, and speak about engineering content using numbers, symbols, and equations. For this reason, math can be thought of as a universal language among engineers. Is it possible to use this common-ground language of numbers, symbols, and equations as a touchstone or analog for teaching engineers how to write in a word-based language such as English? This book says yes.
Brad Henderson

Sentence Algebra

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. Part I Primer: The Elements of Sentence Algebra
Abstract
Part I Chapters 2 through 8 present the “grammar” of math-based writing that I call sentence algebra. In Part I, we will use the sentence algebra system to investigate sentences as if they were little message-carrying machines that can be modeled with functional equations. In these equations, up to eight different algebraic variables represent the machines’ components. The equations themselves record how each machine’s components are arranged and interconnected so that they operate together to accomplish the work of message encoding (by writers), transmission (via documents), and communication (to readers, who then decode the message text). After you complete the Part I chapters, when you write a sentence and see it on the page or screen or when you read a sentence written by someone else, you should be able to understand technically how that sentence works beneath its surface.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 3. The Core Variables N, V, and X
Abstract
This chapter covers what you need to know about the sentence algebra variables N, V, and X to understand how they function in sentence equations. We classify them (see Fig. 3.1) as the core variables because noun and verb (N + V) pairs are the central spark-producing elements of English sentences. We also consider pronouns (Xs) to be core variables because pronoun and verb pairings (X + V) can also operate as sentence cores.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 4. The Accessory Variables: Mn, Mv, L, C, and I
Abstract
This chapter completes our discussion of the eight fundamental building blocks of English sentences or eight parts of speech. In Chap. 3, we examined N = nouns, V = verbs, and X = pronouns and the ways that these essential components pair together—either as Ns + V or Xs + V—to form spark-producing cores of sentences. Along with adding more nouns, verbs, and pronouns to sentence cores, we can also expand sentence equations into more complex structures using five “accessory” components—Mn = adjectives, Mv = adverbs, L = prepositions, C = conjunctions, and I = interjections—as shown in Fig. 4.1.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 5. Basic Sentence Equations: B1, B2, and B3
Abstract
You already have some familiarity with basic sentence equation one (B1). At its core is the most basic of basic clauses, the spark-producing noun and verb pair, “Ns + V” (see Fig. 5.1).
Brad Henderson
Chapter 6. More Basic Sentence Equations: B4 and B5
Abstract
The 4th basic sentence formula (B4) embodies a standard subject-noun-plus-verb “spark” plus two instances of flow. Like basic sentence B2, the main verb transfers action directly onto a noun object (No) in the predicate (stage one flow). Yet with B4, there is a second line of flow that extends “spark” further (stage two flow). This transfer goes from the noun object (No) to a second noun in the predicate, known as the indirect object noun “Ni.” Figure 6.1 displays B4 in stripped-down, core version form.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 7. Advanced Sentence Structures: Compound and Complex Sentences and Relative Clauses
Abstract
Chapters 2–6 have examined the sentence algebra fundamentals. Chapters 3 and 4 presented the eight functional roles that words and word groups can play in a sentence, that is, the eight parts of speech and the algebraic variables associated with them. In Chaps. 5 and 6, we studied the five basic sentence structures and the corresponding five basic equations. Chapters 5 and 6 also covered how to vary and accessorize basic equations by incorporating modifiers, pronouns, and prepositional phrases. Chapters 7 and 8 build upon the preceding fundamentals and examine a variety of advanced sentence structures and components.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 8. More Advanced Sentence Structures: Verbal Phrases, Inversions, and Variations
Abstract
In sentences, another multi-word element that can function as a part of speech (adjective, adverb, or noun) is the verbal phrase (VP). Verbal phrases are constructed around a verb form known as a verbal (Vv), and just as prepositions head up prepositional phrases and relative pronouns head up relative clauses, verbals head up verbal phrases. Verbals do not partner with subject nouns or pronouns, and do not assume the main verb slot in sentences. Instead, verbals and the verbal phrases that they lead are located in a variety of other places in sentences. A verbal can also appear alone.
Brad Henderson

Sentence Optimization

Frontmatter
Chapter 9. Part II Primer: The Elements of Sentence Optimization
Abstract
Consider this scenario: You and your engineering team are moving along a large-scale, high-stake project. An unexpected problem emerges and progress halts. You determine how to fix the problem, but the fix will be expensive. Now, suddenly, your project requires an additional $108 K in unanticipated funding to reach completion.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 10. Simplify and Clarify
Abstract
The engineering writer’s first order of business regarding sentence-level quality control is to make certain that every sentence is concise and clear. This book calls the process simplify and clarify. This chapter reviews four specific techniques for eliminating words and phrasing that unnecessarily complicate and obfuscate a sentence’s intended meaning. Figure 10.1 displays those techniques (OFIs #1 through #4) on sentence optimization’s 20 OFI wheel.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 11. Eliminate Category I Errors
Abstract
The first two Category I errors we will discuss are run-on sentences (OFI #5) and sentence fragments (OFI #6). Figure 11.1 displays these two errors along with the other category II errors on the OFI wheel.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 12. Advance Optimal Style
Abstract
Chapters 10 and 11 have presented a sequence of ten OFIs that focus on concision, clarity, and correctness as fundamental features of excellence in sentence design. Beyond these general attributes of high quality, there is another. A sentence that is lean, lucid, and technically correct can still be suboptimal at communicating its intended message if it lacks appropriate style.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 13. Minimize Category II Errors
Abstract
The fourth and final set of sentence optimization techniques address the Category II errors. These are shown in Fig. 13.1 as OFIs #15 through #20. While Category II errors do impair sentence quality, they typically do not violate basic grammar and punctuation rules. As a result, and because of their tendency to be less interruptive to readers than Category I errors, this book ranks them as less severe than Category I errors. Nevertheless, when Category II errors are present in sentences, these imperfections can still irk readers, occasionally confuse them, and nearly always degrade a document’s quality, credibility, and professional excellence.
Brad Henderson

Document Algorithms

Frontmatter
Chapter 14. Part III Primer: The Elements of Document Algorithms
Abstract
In Chaps. 14 through 21, we find our math touchstone in the world of software engineering, where flowcharted algorithms made of symbols, functions, arrows, and labels provide software designers with a top-level view of how a program moves through its operations—start to finish, input to output. A document algorithm is analogous. It defines how the operative flow of a human language message develops; how and when the message’s language stream articulates descriptions, claims, and evidence; and how these elements aggregate and synthesize into a coherent, cohesive, and convincing message output.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 15. Project Proposals
Abstract
Engineers write proposals to identify engineering opportunities and then obtain a charter to do and the resources to support an associated engineering project. Proposals generate technical work.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 16. Status Reports
Abstract
Engineering projects often begin with the engineer writing a project proposal to gain funding and authorization (see Chap. 15) and end with the engineer preparing a final project report (see Chap. 17). While a project is “in progress,” if you are the project engineer, you will most likely need to provide your manager with project updates.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 17. Project Reports
Abstract
Project reports accomplish a variety of functions, including recording a project’s purpose, scope, and metrics; showcasing a project’s findings and results; and answering a project’s objective with conclusions and recommendations. Project reports also take on the critical task of officially documenting the work done to complete an engineering activity from beginning to end. Rather than being a front-end document like a proposal or an interim document like a status report, this type of report is known as a back-end document because the engineering writer composes it after project completion and develops it from a retrospective point of view.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 18. Tech-to-Nontech Briefs
Abstract
Engineers must routinely write technical documents for other engineers. However, since engineers are the ones who design a company’s products and processes—and since the technical expertise and responsibility associated with those products and processes link back to engineering—engineers are also called upon to explain, review, and disseminate technical information to a variety of non-engineering audiences. As Fig. 18.1 reveals, engineers are positioned at the center of a communication network with message lines (channels) extending to a multifaceted array of personnel types and areas. A number of these lines fall into the category of technical to nontechnical or tech-to-nontech exchanges.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 19. Instructional Job Aids
Abstract
In industry, people get paid to do things, not know things. College grade point averages are superseded by employee performance reviews as metrics for success. The essential workplace document that supports skill training or teaching an employee how to do something (typically an assigned job task) is called a skill-transfer document. The term “skill transfer” describes the document’s chief purpose of capturing and recording a skill recipe for how to perform a particular task competently and then passing along (transferring) that recipe to a skill learner (or trainee).
Brad Henderson
Chapter 20. Expanding and Innovating Short-Form Documents into Long-Form Documents
Abstract
In doing your job as a professional engineer, solving real-world engineering problems sometimes requires you to engage in creative, out-of-the-box thinking to invent new solutions or technologies. Yet invention is not always the best path for addressing engineering problems. In other cases, your education and applied experience already equip you with existing solutions, technologies, systems, or methods that match need satisfactorily or upon which you can innovate a new solution rather than create one from scratch.
Brad Henderson
Chapter 21. Twenty Universal Features of Excellent Engineering Documents
Abstract
Aside from using the recommended document algorithms and geometries to guide the design and production of your engineering documents, I suggest that you also be aware of and incorporate (whenever useful and applicable) a set of essential features that often distinguish effective versus ineffective engineering documents. Below, I have put together a list of 20 of these hallmarks of excellence. The list is not meant to be absolute or comprehensive. I chose to highlight these 20 features based on my own practical experience as well as their alignment with and repeated appearance within the preceding chapters.
Brad Henderson
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
A Math-Based Writing System for Engineers
Author
Prof. Dr. Brad Henderson
Copyright Year
2020
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-10756-7
Print ISBN
978-3-030-10754-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10756-7

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