camera: hannie van den bergh
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pacemaker jozef knows practically nothing about physics or astronomy. _it’s a bit of luck, that he kept an old cigar tin with small notes. _on one -from 1970- he wrote an astronomic figure: 56764800000000000000, the result of an afternoon lasting calculation of the distance to the remotest planet of our galaxy, and on another -from 1971- the ‘jf code’(jozef ferdinand code): self made calculation methods, for example for the addition of dissimilar fractions:
jf
code (jozef ferdinand code) (1971)
'code of the addition of dissimilar fractions'
3/4 + 1/3 = 13/12
numerator times denominator of both fractions (3 x 3 = 9 and 4 x 1 = 4). _add the results (9 + 4 = 13) (13 is the numerator of the final result). _ denominator times denominator (4 x 3 = 12) (12 is the denominator of the final result). _the final result is 13/12, in words: thirteen-twelfths or one and one-twelfth.
on the back he wrote a method for the substraction of of dissimilar fractions:
1/3 - 3/4 = 5/12
numerator times denominator of both fractions (4 x 1 = 4 and 3 x 3 = 9). _substract the results (9 - 4 = 5) (5 is the numerator of the final result). _ denominator times denominator (3 x 4 = 12) (12 is the denominator of the final result). _ the final result is 5/12, in words: five-twelfths.
at the age of ten, our pacemaker already realized the advantage of the arabic versus the roman notation of figures. _a benefit he still enjoys each and every day.
