Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations

If you’re like most engineers, your desk is probably littered with pieces of paper that are full of notes, diagrams, and miscellaneous calculations. These “back-of-the-envelop” calculations, as they call them, are sometimes the result of that ‘genius’ moment where you’re incubating ideas for seemingly unsolvable problems.

I’ve been experimenting around with replacing my stash of paper scraps with a new digital tablet from Improv Electronics (a Kent Displays company) called the “Boogie Board.” It’s sort of an electronic etch-a-sketch that won’t go replacing your iPad; but at less than $40, it’s not going to put much of a dent in your wallet either.

The note taking tablet is good for 50k erase cycles using the built in set of coin batteries that come pre-installed. This should be sufficient for the life of the tablet and I’m assuming by the time you reach 50k erases, there will probably be a newer model available with more features. Note the manufacture says they are working on a version that can store your drawings – that would be nice!

The form factor on this thing is amazing. It’s incredibly light and I love being able to hold on to the side of the tablet area. I can’t wait until a full featured iOS or Android machine fits into this size device with compelling battery life to boot.

My overall impression of this device is that it’s a welcome addition to any engineer’s desk. You’ll find yourself taking down phone numbers, using it to explain something to a colleague, or sketching out at technical drawing that you otherwise might not have done in the first place for fear of wasting pen and paper resources.

Here’s a few shots of the tablet in action. Obvious uses for engineers are to sketch out circuits, state machine drawings, mechanical ideas, code snippets, etc.

Figure 1  State Machine Design

Figure 2  Circuit Design

Figure 3  Hello Hacker News

Figure 4  Form Factor is Great