Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context.
Nomography is considered a branch of mathematics introduced by Maurice d'Ocagne in 1884 in France. The past century saw nomography grow as a graphical computing method used by scientists and engineers wishing to solve complex problems to a practical precision. Even though nomography has decline...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315426 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1823856848679206912 |
|---|---|
| author | Trevor Blight Pedro Martínez-Pagán Leif Roschier Daniel Boulet Lorena Yepes-Bellver Víctor Yepes |
| author_facet | Trevor Blight Pedro Martínez-Pagán Leif Roschier Daniel Boulet Lorena Yepes-Bellver Víctor Yepes |
| author_sort | Trevor Blight |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nomography is considered a branch of mathematics introduced by Maurice d'Ocagne in 1884 in France. The past century saw nomography grow as a graphical computing method used by scientists and engineers wishing to solve complex problems to a practical precision. Even though nomography has declined with the introduction of calculators and computers, it still offers potential in an educational setting. The recent development of open-source software is helping promote the use of nomograms among scholars in engineering courses who are aware of nomography's capabilities. The main reason for this apparent and renewed interest in nomography is the capability of open-source software to generate customized and precise nomograms in seconds without the previously required mathematical background. In this work, we introduce Nomogen, a Python package able to build reliable and scalable 3-variable nomograms while avoiding past drawbacks such as manipulating determinants or manually drawing the scales. In this way, some nomograms generated by Nomogen have been tested on undergraduate and graduate students from different engineering backgrounds. Subsequently, a Likert scale survey was conducted, which showed that students had a great and renewed interest in nomography and found it helpful in the engineering learning process. Even though 78.4% of the respondent had never used nomograms, 86.5% believed that these analogical graphs allow a reasonable interpretation of the phenomenon when there are many variables, and, as a result, nomography with the assistance of open-source software, such as Nomogen or PyNomo, should be incorporated in the teaching process as part of their engineering education syllabus. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-af47f188847f4c71bb31cb7443b197e6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-af47f188847f4c71bb31cb7443b197e62025-02-12T05:30:55ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01202e031542610.1371/journal.pone.0315426Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context.Trevor BlightPedro Martínez-PagánLeif RoschierDaniel BouletLorena Yepes-BellverVíctor YepesNomography is considered a branch of mathematics introduced by Maurice d'Ocagne in 1884 in France. The past century saw nomography grow as a graphical computing method used by scientists and engineers wishing to solve complex problems to a practical precision. Even though nomography has declined with the introduction of calculators and computers, it still offers potential in an educational setting. The recent development of open-source software is helping promote the use of nomograms among scholars in engineering courses who are aware of nomography's capabilities. The main reason for this apparent and renewed interest in nomography is the capability of open-source software to generate customized and precise nomograms in seconds without the previously required mathematical background. In this work, we introduce Nomogen, a Python package able to build reliable and scalable 3-variable nomograms while avoiding past drawbacks such as manipulating determinants or manually drawing the scales. In this way, some nomograms generated by Nomogen have been tested on undergraduate and graduate students from different engineering backgrounds. Subsequently, a Likert scale survey was conducted, which showed that students had a great and renewed interest in nomography and found it helpful in the engineering learning process. Even though 78.4% of the respondent had never used nomograms, 86.5% believed that these analogical graphs allow a reasonable interpretation of the phenomenon when there are many variables, and, as a result, nomography with the assistance of open-source software, such as Nomogen or PyNomo, should be incorporated in the teaching process as part of their engineering education syllabus.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315426 |
| spellingShingle | Trevor Blight Pedro Martínez-Pagán Leif Roschier Daniel Boulet Lorena Yepes-Bellver Víctor Yepes Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context. PLoS ONE |
| title | Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context. |
| title_full | Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context. |
| title_fullStr | Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context. |
| title_short | Innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context. |
| title_sort | innovative approach of nomography application into an engineering educational context |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315426 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT trevorblight innovativeapproachofnomographyapplicationintoanengineeringeducationalcontext AT pedromartinezpagan innovativeapproachofnomographyapplicationintoanengineeringeducationalcontext AT leifroschier innovativeapproachofnomographyapplicationintoanengineeringeducationalcontext AT danielboulet innovativeapproachofnomographyapplicationintoanengineeringeducationalcontext AT lorenayepesbellver innovativeapproachofnomographyapplicationintoanengineeringeducationalcontext AT victoryepes innovativeapproachofnomographyapplicationintoanengineeringeducationalcontext |