mathematics

Mers Kutt

Mers Kutt is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mers Kutt rather than just read about it. In short: Merslau "Mers" Kutt CM (born 1933) is a Canadian inventor, businessman and educator. He is a former professor of mathematics at Queen's University.

Key takeaways

Mers Kutt belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mers Kutt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mers Kutt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Merslau "Mers" Kutt CM (born 1933) is a Canadian inventor, businessman and educator. He is a former professor of mathematics at Queen's University. Through his company, Micro Computer Machines, he is the developer of the world's first keyboard-based portable microcomputer.

Early life Kutt was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He graduated in 1956 from the University of Toronto with a degree in mathematics and physics.

Career After employment in industry at Phillips, IBM and Honeywell, Kutt worked as a professor of mathematics at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario during the 1960s. He served as president of the Canadian Information Processing Society, and was director of the University's computing centre. In 1968, after observing the punched card-based input systems in use there at the time to program its mainframe, he partnered with Donald Pamenter to start a company, Consolidated Computer Inc., and produced "Key-Edit", a terminal with a one-line of display, which both streamlined and reduced the cost of the process. This product was the first of its kind, and was sold and used in many countries during the next few years distributed by International Computers Limited and Fujitsu. By 1971, Kutt been forced out of Consolidated's management, and he formed two more companies, Micro Computer Machines and Kutt Systems Inc. As president of these companies he directed the design and manufacture in 1973 of the MCM/70, the world's first complete microprocessor-based, portable personal computer. The device, based on the Intel 8008 processor, was used to edit and execute programs using the APL programming language. The MCM/70 technical specifications were overtaken by products from companies with larger development and marketing budgets, and by 1982 the product was no longer in production. In 1976 Kutt started up another Toronto company, All Computers Inc., which developed improvements to several Intel processors. By 2004, Kutt was the company's only employee; that year he sued Intel, alleging that his patented circuitry had been included in Pentium processors. The suit was dismissed in 2005. In 2006, Kutt was inducted into the Order of Canada.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mers Kutt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mers Kutt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mers Kutt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mers Kutt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mers Kutt

In research: Mers Kutt appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mers Kutt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mers Kutt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1933 births, 20th-century Canadian businesspeople, 21st-century Canadian businesspeople, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mers Kutt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mers Kutt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mers Kutt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mers Kutt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mers Kutt in simple terms?

Merslau "Mers" Kutt CM (born 1933) is a Canadian inventor, businessman and educator. He is a former professor of mathematics at Queen's University.

Why does Mers Kutt matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mers Kutt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mers Kutt.