mathematics

Now & Zen

Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen rather than just read about it. In short: Now & Zen, Inc. is an American company founded by Steve McIntosh in January 1995, that is based in Boulder, Colorado. The Zen Alarm Clock was introduced in early 1996.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Now & Zen, Inc. is an American company founded by Steve McIntosh in January 1995, that is based in Boulder, Colorado. The Zen Alarm Clock was introduced in early 1996. McIntosh stepped down as CEO in 2012.

Patents

Now & Zen holds two U.S. patents covering design and utility aspects of its chiming alarm clocks: U.S. Patent No. Des. 390,121, (issued February 3, 1998) and U.S. Patent No. US 6,819,635 B2 (issued November 16, 2004).

Products All Now & Zen products were invented and designed by founder and former CEO Steve McIntosh. Early in its history the company produced a variety of household products; it later focused on alarm clocks and timers The Zen Alarm Clock uses a series of progressive acoustic chimes to wake people gradually. In 2001, the company introduced a portable digital version of its chiming alarm clock. In 2005, the company introduced an alarm clock and timer featuring a six-inch brass bowl-gong, called The Zen Timepiece.

Reviews The Zen Alarm Clock has been reviewed by major media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Good Morning America television show, The Washington Post, and Good Housekeeping Magazine.

Criticism The Zen Alarm Clock's New Age positioning received mixed responses from reviewers. In his review of the product in The New York Times, reviewer William L. Hamilton wrote: "It is like a monk losing his temper — om to OM! Now! Tranquil, tenacious — the Dalai Lama as drill sergeant". Similarly, Dads Magazine referred to the aesthetics of the triangular shaped version of the clock as a "hippie carpenter contraption," but nevertheless praised the way it woke users gently and gradually. Moreover, despite the moderate success of The Zen Alarm Clock, the company has also had some failures, such as The Affirmation Station, introduced in 1998, which was designed to wake users with their personal affirmations. However, the product failed to gain consumer acceptance and was discontinued after three years on the market.

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Now & Zen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen

In research: Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen 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: Now & Zen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Colorado, Sacred geometry, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Now & Zen in simple terms?

Now & Zen, Inc. is an American company founded by Steve McIntosh in January 1995, that is based in Boulder, Colorado. The Zen Alarm Clock was introduced in early 1996.

Why does Now & Zen 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 Now & Zen?

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 Now & Zen.