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!Ignotum/!Help

This website contains an archive of files for the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Acorn Archimedes, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64 computers, which Dominic Ford has rescued from his private collection of floppy disks and cassettes.

Some of these files were originally commercial releases in the 1980s and 1990s, but they are now widely available online. I assume that copyright over them is no longer being asserted. If you own the copyright and would like files to be removed, please contact me.

Tape/disk: Home » Archimedes archive » Archimedes World » AW-1996-07.adf » !Ignotum_Ignotum
Filename: !Ignotum/!Help
Read OK:
File size: 0B29 bytes
Load address: 0000
Exec address: 0000
File contents
Ignotum - A Formula Finder
by Chris Allen

We all know, or vaguely remember, the formula to find the area of a circle - PIr� - and Pythagoras's theorem to calculate the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle - a�=b�+c�. But what about the formula to calculate the area of a triangle, voltage, resistance, velocity and all those other formulae that you learnt at school and then promptly forgot? Well help is at hand in the form of Ignotum which can best be described as a dictionary of formulae. It provides information on over 200 different formulae covering, amongst others, area, volume, differentiation, geometry, electricity, gases and motion, all suitable for both GCSE and A level studies.

To load Ignotum, double-click on its icon. Ignotum supports Acorn's interactive help on both windows and menus.

The Formula window

To display the Formula window, click on the iconbar icon. A window with three sections should appear:

Top section: this is the control panel. It displays what topic is currently selected. It also has a toggle icon for the formula information. Should you wish to change the topic you can do so by clicking on the Menu icon next to the selected topic. A menu will appear from which you can choose a new topic. When you select a topic, Ignotum will try to access the disc from which it was loaded. It does this because all the formulae are kept on disc, not in memory - there are over 200 formulae and the program would have to take up about 25k more to load them all at once. By keeping the program small, users with 1Mb systems will be able to run Ignotum alongside Impression or another text editor.

Middle section: This is the list of the formulae available for the chosen topic. To select a formula click on it with Select or Adjust. To export the formula of your choice, just drag and drop it into a Filer window to save it to disc, or straight into a word processor such as Impression or Edit. If you drag with Adjust then the Formula window will close afterwards.

Note: Using the standard system font it is sometimes difficult to express the correct mathematical symbols, therefore the following notation is used:

  ^  is 'to the power of' (commonly used in programming anyway)
  ^� is used instead of the square root sign
  >  is used in the differentiation section to mean 'differentiates to' rather than 'is greater than'
  {  is used as the integral sign in the integration section
  All the other symbols are standard, eg |x| means the modulus of x.

Bottom section - displays information on the selected formula.

To save the setup of the program so it always loads with the same set of formula displayed, set it up correctly and then select the 'Save choices' option from the iconbar menu.

To quit the application, choose the 'Quit' option from the iconbar menu.

I hope you find it useful,

Chris Allen
00000000  49 67 6e 6f 74 75 6d 20  2d 20 41 20 46 6f 72 6d  |Ignotum - A Form|
00000010  75 6c 61 20 46 69 6e 64  65 72 0a 62 79 20 43 68  |ula Finder.by Ch|
00000020  72 69 73 20 41 6c 6c 65  6e 0a 0a 57 65 20 61 6c  |ris Allen..We al|
00000030  6c 20 6b 6e 6f 77 2c 20  6f 72 20 76 61 67 75 65  |l know, or vague|
00000040  6c 79 20 72 65 6d 65 6d  62 65 72 2c 20 74 68 65  |ly remember, the|
00000050  20 66 6f 72 6d 75 6c 61  20 74 6f 20 66 69 6e 64  | formula to find|
00000060  20 74 68 65 20 61 72 65  61 20 6f 66 20 61 20 63  | the area of a c|
00000070  69 72 63 6c 65 20 2d 20  50 49 72 b2 20 2d 20 61  |ircle - PIr. - a|
00000080  6e 64 20 50 79 74 68 61  67 6f 72 61 73 27 73 20  |nd Pythagoras's |
00000090  74 68 65 6f 72 65 6d 20  74 6f 20 63 61 6c 63 75  |theorem to calcu|
000000a0  6c 61 74 65 20 74 68 65  20 6c 65 6e 67 74 68 20  |late the length |
000000b0  6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 68  79 70 6f 74 65 6e 75 73  |of the hypotenus|
000000c0  65 20 6f 66 20 61 20 72  69 67 68 74 20 74 72 69  |e of a right tri|
000000d0  61 6e 67 6c 65 20 2d 20  61 b2 3d 62 b2 2b 63 b2  |angle - a.=b.+c.|
000000e0  2e 20 42 75 74 20 77 68  61 74 20 61 62 6f 75 74  |. But what about|
000000f0  20 74 68 65 20 66 6f 72  6d 75 6c 61 20 74 6f 20  | the formula to |
00000100  63 61 6c 63 75 6c 61 74  65 20 74 68 65 20 61 72  |calculate the ar|
00000110  65 61 20 6f 66 20 61 20  74 72 69 61 6e 67 6c 65  |ea of a triangle|
00000120  2c 20 76 6f 6c 74 61 67  65 2c 20 72 65 73 69 73  |, voltage, resis|
00000130  74 61 6e 63 65 2c 20 76  65 6c 6f 63 69 74 79 20  |tance, velocity |
00000140  61 6e 64 20 61 6c 6c 20  74 68 6f 73 65 20 6f 74  |and all those ot|
00000150  68 65 72 20 66 6f 72 6d  75 6c 61 65 20 74 68 61  |her formulae tha|
00000160  74 20 79 6f 75 20 6c 65  61 72 6e 74 20 61 74 20  |t you learnt at |
00000170  73 63 68 6f 6f 6c 20 61  6e 64 20 74 68 65 6e 20  |school and then |
00000180  70 72 6f 6d 70 74 6c 79  20 66 6f 72 67 6f 74 3f  |promptly forgot?|
00000190  20 57 65 6c 6c 20 68 65  6c 70 20 69 73 20 61 74  | Well help is at|
000001a0  20 68 61 6e 64 20 69 6e  20 74 68 65 20 66 6f 72  | hand in the for|
000001b0  6d 20 6f 66 20 49 67 6e  6f 74 75 6d 20 77 68 69  |m of Ignotum whi|
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000001e0  63 74 69 6f 6e 61 72 79  20 6f 66 20 66 6f 72 6d  |ctionary of form|
000001f0  75 6c 61 65 2e 20 49 74  20 70 72 6f 76 69 64 65  |ulae. It provide|
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00000240  74 68 65 72 73 2c 20 61  72 65 61 2c 20 76 6f 6c  |thers, area, vol|
00000250  75 6d 65 2c 20 64 69 66  66 65 72 65 6e 74 69 61  |ume, differentia|
00000260  74 69 6f 6e 2c 20 67 65  6f 6d 65 74 72 79 2c 20  |tion, geometry, |
00000270  65 6c 65 63 74 72 69 63  69 74 79 2c 20 67 61 73  |electricity, gas|
00000280  65 73 20 61 6e 64 20 6d  6f 74 69 6f 6e 2c 20 61  |es and motion, a|
00000290  6c 6c 20 73 75 69 74 61  62 6c 65 20 66 6f 72 20  |ll suitable for |
000002a0  62 6f 74 68 20 47 43 53  45 20 61 6e 64 20 41 20  |both GCSE and A |
000002b0  6c 65 76 65 6c 20 73 74  75 64 69 65 73 2e 0a 0a  |level studies...|
000002c0  54 6f 20 6c 6f 61 64 20  49 67 6e 6f 74 75 6d 2c  |To load Ignotum,|
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00000450  67 65 20 74 68 65 20 74  6f 70 69 63 20 79 6f 75  |ge the topic you|
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00000510  73 20 74 68 65 20 64 69  73 63 20 66 72 6f 6d 20  |s the disc from |
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00000540  73 20 62 65 63 61 75 73  65 20 61 6c 6c 20 74 68  |s because all th|
00000550  65 20 66 6f 72 6d 75 6c  61 65 20 61 72 65 20 6b  |e formulae are k|
00000560  65 70 74 20 6f 6e 20 64  69 73 63 2c 20 6e 6f 74  |ept on disc, not|
00000570  20 69 6e 20 6d 65 6d 6f  72 79 20 2d 20 74 68 65  | in memory - the|
00000580  72 65 20 61 72 65 20 6f  76 65 72 20 32 30 30 20  |re are over 200 |
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000005b0  61 76 65 20 74 6f 20 74  61 6b 65 20 75 70 20 61  |ave to take up a|
000005c0  62 6f 75 74 20 32 35 6b  20 6d 6f 72 65 20 74 6f  |bout 25k more to|
000005d0  20 6c 6f 61 64 20 74 68  65 6d 20 61 6c 6c 20 61  | load them all a|
000005e0  74 20 6f 6e 63 65 2e 20  42 79 20 6b 65 65 70 69  |t once. By keepi|
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00000610  20 31 4d 62 20 73 79 73  74 65 6d 73 20 77 69 6c  | 1Mb systems wil|
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00000630  20 49 67 6e 6f 74 75 6d  20 61 6c 6f 6e 67 73 69  | Ignotum alongsi|
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00000650  20 61 6e 6f 74 68 65 72  20 74 65 78 74 20 65 64  | another text ed|
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00000860  61 74 69 6f 6e 20 69 73  20 75 73 65 64 3a 0a 0a  |ation is used:..|
00000870  20 20 5e 20 20 69 73 20  27 74 6f 20 74 68 65 20  |  ^  is 'to the |
00000880  70 6f 77 65 72 20 6f 66  27 20 28 63 6f 6d 6d 6f  |power of' (commo|
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00000a70  65 63 74 6c 79 20 61 6e  64 20 74 68 65 6e 20 73  |ectly and then s|
00000a80  65 6c 65 63 74 20 74 68  65 20 27 53 61 76 65 20  |elect the 'Save |
00000a90  63 68 6f 69 63 65 73 27  20 6f 70 74 69 6f 6e 20  |choices' option |
00000aa0  66 72 6f 6d 20 74 68 65  20 69 63 6f 6e 62 61 72  |from the iconbar|
00000ab0  20 6d 65 6e 75 2e 0a 0a  54 6f 20 71 75 69 74 20  | menu...To quit |
00000ac0  74 68 65 20 61 70 70 6c  69 63 61 74 69 6f 6e 2c  |the application,|
00000ad0  20 63 68 6f 6f 73 65 20  74 68 65 20 27 51 75 69  | choose the 'Qui|
00000ae0  74 27 20 6f 70 74 69 6f  6e 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 74  |t' option from t|
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00000b00  0a 0a 49 20 68 6f 70 65  20 79 6f 75 20 66 69 6e  |..I hope you fin|
00000b10  64 20 69 74 20 75 73 65  66 75 6c 2c 0a 0a 43 68  |d it useful,..Ch|
00000b20  72 69 73 20 41 6c 6c 65  6e                       |ris Allen|
00000b29