Conversions, Routines, Algorithms, Charts, and Formulas

For years, I’ve kept this process running in my life – I want to know how to convert from one metric to another, which routines work best, the definition of algorithms and how they help my life and using charts to document and follow. Then, make a formula for a successful migration from one to the other.

Conversions, Routines, Algorithms, Charts, and Formulas…
All of these fascinate me and help me every single day!

Routines… are simply routine. There is generally nothing we do that we do not create a routine for. From making our favorite coffee drink to determining where you are and where you want to go, or even baking a cake. Routines are simply the pathways we follow to get from here, to there!

Have you ever had a routine broken by distraction and then have to rethink what you were doing, where you were at in the routine, and what is the next step? If you are breathing then you know this to be the truth! Routines are simply the mapping of steps to get from here to there! Mess up those steps and you may not remember, did I get the mixture right?

Routines are simply the mapping of steps to get from here to there! Conversions, Formulas, Algorithms, Processes. Whatever it takes to be successfully followed to produce good results!

Along the way, we understand that being successful requires us to convert something from one scheme to another. We create formulas, tables, charts, and even complex algorithms – all tools to accomplish the conversion. Just routine.

In fact, if you think about it, we all use routines to convert from this, to that!

So, what is a Conversion Routine?

A flexible, self-contained, and generalized program used for data conversion, which only requires specifications about very few facts in order to be used by a programmer. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.)

Of course, this works great for the computer scientist or programmer. Still, the definition applies to many different industries.

One of the first programming conversion routines I found important to understand was converting between Gregorian and Julian date structures. Fill in the date field you know, call a preprogrammed routine that will take the field as input and give you the scheme you are looking for! Easy Peasy! It works both ways!

Okay. So you seldom need this tool in real life. Consider the conversion tool you have in front of you as you drive down the road. The Speedometer. We take it for granted but think about how you use it and what it’s actually doing. RPM’s (Revolutions Per Minute), the Speed of the car, and the status of the fuel.

Everything you see required some critical logic behind the scene to show you what is there in front of you! The number of times the crankshaft turns at the center of your engine helps you to understand how the engine is producing power to the drive shaft! Idle RPM’s are much less than the RPM’s used when accelerating quickly! Your Speedometer shows you the conversion of all the systems you don’t even know about to tell you how fast you are traveling down the road! Finally, your Fuel gauge calculates how much is in the tank, and knowing how many MPG’s (miles per gallon) you get, you can then calculate how far you can go before you drain the tank dry!

Since modern dashboards are simply computers, the results can be re-displayed using other measuring systems, i.e., going from our US standard to Metric, where you play around with kilometers on the speedometer and liters in the fuel tank. The RPM probably never has to adjust because it’s a physical measurement of something we all accept. Except, and the Dashboard shows it. You have to take the number on the dial and multiply it by 1,000. Simple math!

Take another look at the dashboard. Do you see the “P”? Do you know what it stands for? Quickly! Convert it to what you know… It stands for Park! You have to know how to change the shift select to go in Reverse or to move forward by being in Drive. All Conversion Routines!

Computers and programming languages all work with numbering systems, and I remember the early days of Hewlett Packard (HP) and Texas Instruments (TI) Calculators. If you were not around back then, you may not know how bulky and expensive they were. I seemed every engineering student owned one, and back then they carried them in a case attached to their belts. Sort of like mobile phones may be done today.

So, before these portable calculators, we had conversion charts and tables to convert binary (base 2) or hexadecimal (base 16) computer failures (dumps, abends, aborts!) into decimal and alphabetic (base 10) solutions for readability. EBCIDIC to ASCII to HEX. It takes 8 bits of binary data to equal 1 byte of alphanumeric characters easily understood. All normal as long as the computer did not use a different number system, say, Octal (base 8) that was common by some manufacturers, HP if my memory serves me correctly…

So. Charts. Tables. Routines. Algorithms. Formulas. It’s easy. Right?

I was thinking about all of this the other day when a Canadian Friend shared that it was warming up. The temperature had made it to 30 degrees Celsius. When re-telling the temperature to an American friend, we laughed about trying to determine how to convert that into Fahrenheit – which is what we know temperatures by. The only thing I could remember was that “0” degrees Celsius equaled “32” degrees Fahrenheit – both numbers represent freezing. Erroneously I assumed that it would be a simple math formula based upon .32.

Not exactly the answer that would work, but it does come into play…!

So, ignoring the apps I have to do the conversion routine for me, I researched to find the Conversion Routine and see if it could easily be memorized. With a speedometer in front of me, I do not have to remember any conversion routines to transfer from Miles to Kilometers – the automakers have put it right in front of my eyes. Go ahead, look at the speedometer picture again – the big outer ring numbers are Mileage numbers, and the smaller inside ring numbers are Kilometers.

What’s an easy way to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius? Quick! Do the math! It’s 30 degrees Celsius. What is it in Fahrenheit?

• Conversion formula: F = [9/5 C] +32  OR  nine fifths of the Celsius temperature + 32.
• 30 x 9 = 270 and 270/5 = 54, and 54+32 = 86

So easy… Remember that the conversion formula is simply 9/5’s of the Celsius temperature, plus 32!

Of course, that is one simple formula and we have written untold lines of code to make this a conversion routine used by various languages and programs. And there are untold thousands of conversion that we may need to remember in order to live…

• Convert US Gallons to Imperial Gallons (British).
• Convert US Gallons to Liters to Imperial Gallons.
• Convert US Currency to any other currency you wish.
• Convert all your cooking measurements you are comfortable with to another system used by another countries standard!
• etc…

All Conversion Routines. They are sometimes complex sometimes simple. Converting from one known to another known.

I remember Junior High Math when we were told that we needed to know the Metric system because we would be totally converted to the said system by the time the century was over. Of course, back in the late ’60s, no one was taking into account the resistance by the American public. Most conversions never occurred successfully. Except, in my mind maybe for the 32 or 64-ounce soft drink bottles that easily became the 1 liter and 2-liter size.

Most of the other changes never happened! Pounds (lb), Ounces (oz), Gallons, Speeds, Measurements, etc. all remained the same.

One exception is that we now measure more and more auto measurements by the Metric system. You know the engine is now known by a Liters instead of Cubic Inch. Liters is metric, and Cubic Inch is called, essentially, the Imperial or Legacy number system. Many wrenches and other tools are needed in both systems because most auto’s still used both systems.

So. My toolbox must contain both kinds of tools! I remember my first vehicle back in the ’80s that had bolt heads that were metric here, and standard there. It was, and is, a convoluting mess to know which tool system to use! Quickly! What’s a 13-millimeter tool equal to in the standard system we are comfortable with?

Consider one last thing about this subject.

For every answer, there are many variables at play. It is difficult to determine how to address the variables. You can convert the Gregorian calendar to a Julian Calendar, but you have to remember the variable is Leap Year. Every 4th year you must add 1 number to account for Leap Day on 02/29… Why a leap year? Not every year is an equal number of hours established by the equal number 365 days. Each year has a few hours over 365, and somewhere in our past, they created a system to handle the variable – add one extra day to February!

We often take past successful events and try to formalize them into a routine that will produce repetitive successful results. Sometimes it works and we have a great routine that we can follow well into the future. Other times, well, there are always a variety of reasons why it will not work now.

Example: “Give the kid a toy in the store and he/she will behave every time.”
Or… Promise them a toy when they go to the doctor, barber, etc…
if and only if they behave!

Of course, we know this does not always work. There are too many variables and we do not know how to take them into account. There are even variables to the variables, multiplied by all the possibilities that could exist at any given time. How do we normalize them into a final solution? The kid is hungry, tired, sleepy, grumpy, already have the toy you want to buy, the toy the kid wants is not in the store, or the color is wrong… I remember my daughter not being happy until the tennis shoes she wore were Green! Yep. Strange variable!

Seldom can we easily guess which correct variable should be used today, early in the morning, and before the sun shines at the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere… to make the routine successful!

Routines. Charts. Tables. Formulas. Algorithms.

Think about your own life and what routines you have in place that will produce successful results every time… Can you name them?

Here’s my real thought today. Think about your spiritual life. What routines do you have in place and do they produce successful results? What are they? Can you identify the typical routine that keeps you from sin? Or forgetting scripture? Or getting your prayers answered?

For me, and it’s really my priority, I keep two things routine in my life. Prayers that are not just the storeroom kind of prayer that Jesus teaches about in Matthew 6, rather, these are my frequent Breath Prayers I pray every day as needed.

The other routine focuses around scripture. The main thing about scripture? It keeps the main thing the main thing.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.
(Matthew 6:33 NKJV)

The foundation of scripture gives me the formulas, charts, algorithms, tables, and, yes, conversion routines that give me a greater chance for success!

This is not to say that you will instantly know everything else! No! You still have to learn all the other facts of all the other systems. Life is nothing if it is not simply following a conversion routine from something that is to something that could be!

If you feel like sharing, could you tell me about your Routines?