Leco Droid Apps
Kepler 1.0
Kepler, by Walter W. Bryant“I’m sure you remember that Tycho Brahe had his own system oftheuniverse. In a tychonic system, the earth was stationary atthecenter, the sun went around the earth, and all of the otherplanetswent around the sun. Of course, Tycho believed passionatelyin hisown system, and on his death bed he begged Johannes Kepler tousethe new observations to prove the correctness of thetychonicsystem. It was a touching moment. I have no idea of whatKeplerthought of that moment. But the idea of doing what Tycho hadaskedhim to do never even crossed his mind. Kepler was a Copernicantohis very core, and as soon as he got his hands on Tycho's data,thefirst thing that he set out to do was to analyze the orbit ofmars.It proved to be enormously difficult, and no matter what hedid, hecouldn't make the orbit of mars fit a circle. Thedisagreementbetween the angular position of mars in the sky and thebestcircular orbit was eight minutes of arc. In other words, if hehadtried to do the same thing before Tycho’s observations, itwould’vebeen possible. But with the new data, it could no longer bemade towork. And so Kepler was faced with a direct conflict betweentheancient platonic dictum, that all motions in the heavens had tobecircular motions, and the new tychonic observations. Facedwiththat conflict, he made his choice; he chose the observations.Andhe started the search for a different smooth curve thatwoulddescribe the orbit of mars. After years of agonizing work, hehitupon the answer. It was a curve that had been known forthousandsof years; and it’s called: an ellipse.” - Dr. DavidL.Goodstein“Focus is the Latin word for fireplace. It was first used fortheellipse by a man who became known as the wanderingmathematician.His name was Johannes Kepler; and in the sun he sawthe greatestfireplace in the universe. In his emotional life,however,particularly as a child, he saw very little in the way ofwarmth.Kepler’s father, a low rank soldier of fortune, deserted thefamilyearly. His mother was later tried for witchcraft. Although,it’snot known whether Kepler senior fled because she had themakings ofa real witch. In his father’s absence, Johannes wasconstantlyvisited by poverty; and despite his mother’s allegedcharms, byillness as well. His background challenges manycontemporarynotions about heredity and the environment. Though hedisplayed theskill and curiosity of mathematical genius, JohannesKepler seemedan unlikely candidate to solve some fundamentalproblems of theuniverse.”“At the dawn of a new century, January 1st, 1600, Kepler setoffin search of the most accurate astronomical data on earth, andtheman who possessed them: Tycho Brahe… no one on earthappreciatedthe potential value of Tycho’s heavenly observationsbetter thanJohannes Kepler. To him, the data were essential. Thekey to unlockthe door to the universe and to reveal what he called‘the secretsof the skies’. But much to Kepler’s dismay, Tycho knewhow to keepa secret. So, Kepler struggled without Tycho’s preciousdata foralmost two years. Then, on October 24, 1601, fate steppedin.Tycho’s dying words were: ‘Let me not seem to have lived invain.’The Dane’s family withheld the data, but Kepler managed tomakeTycho’s last wish come true. Advancing science more thanethics, hestole the material. The otherwise mild-manner littlemathematicianwas finally ready, in his own words, to ‘wage my waron Mars’.” -The Mechanical Universe… and Beyond, Lesson 21,Kepler’s ThreeLawsNavigation Instructions:Swipe left or right on the screen to turn to theprevious/nextchapter.Tap twice to turn to the next chapter.Swipe up or down on the screen to scroll through thecurrentchapter.Use the menu button to select a specific chapter from thetableof contents.Use the menu button to access options for text sizeandbackground colors.Enjoy!
Cash Flow Droid 3.4
Money doesn't grow on trees. Let Cash Flow Droid help you makethemost of it. Ever wondered if you could afford your nextpurchase?Cash Flow Droid forecasts how much money you will haveavailableover the next few weeks or months, after you pay bills.Theforecast is based on information you enter in Cash Flow Droid,suchas recurrent bills, scheduled deposits, one time payments,accountbalance, etc. Cash Flow Droid also shows you the forecastamount bycategories. Want to know how much you will be spending sixmonthsfrom now in groceries, gas, or electricity? Not a problem,CashFlow Droid will help you. A variety of reports give you insightonwhere your money will go in the future. Note: This is notacheckbook. Cash Flow Droid is a financial planning tool thatwillgraphically show you how a particular account balance willchangein the future over a given period of time based on bills,deposits,and account balances that you provide.
