science

NumWorks

NumWorks is a science 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 NumWorks rather than just read about it. In short: NumWorks is a French technology company that designs, develops, and sells graphing calculators. Their calculators are source-available and have their hardware design available under a Creative Commons license.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

NumWorks is a French technology company that designs, develops, and sells graphing calculators. Their calculators are source-available and have their hardware design available under a Creative Commons license. Its first calculator, the N0100, was released on August 29, 2017, in Europe and the United States and is geared towards high school classrooms and students. The calculators use Python as their programming language, rather than a proprietary language (e.g. TI-BASIC, which is used by Texas Instruments calculators).

Development Romain Goyet, the CEO of NumWorks, started the company in 2016. Before starting NumWorks, he was a software engineer at Apple who also contributed to open-source projects such as Linux.

Products The NumWorks graphing calculator was the first graphing calculator to be programmable using the Python language. It features a 320x240 IPS display with a 2.8″ diagonal. Internally, it is powered by a 216 MHz Cortex-M7 processor and 8 MB of Quad-SPI Flash memory. The calculator has a 1450 mAh lithium polymer battery. The calculator weights 5.9 oz (0.37 lb) and measures 8.2 cm × 16 cm × 1 cm (3.23 in × 6.30 in × 0.39 in). Four versions of the calculator were produced by NumWorks: the N0100 model, the N0110 model, the N0120 model, and the N0115 model. Technical limitations of the N0100 model's memory prevent any upgrade to an OS version higher than 19.5.17.

Features The calculator was specifically designed to be modded using 3D printing. 3D models, schematics, and board layout details are available to the public under a Creative Commons license. The software on the calculator is updated on a monthly cycle. Updates can be downloaded to the calculator from its website using WebUSB or by building the operating system from its direct source. The NumWorks calculator also includes various "exam modes" which may disable certain features (e.g. the periodic table app, Python scripts, etc.) in accordance with regional exam regulations. Exam mode can be disabled by plugging the calculator into a power source and selecting disable on the popup that appears. On March 22, 2019, NumWorks released an app for iOS and Android, free of charge. It features the same functionality as the physical calculator except it does not have data persistence.

References

External links NumWorks official site Numworks on GitHub

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NumWorks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NumWorks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 NumWorks 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 NumWorks 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 NumWorks

In research: NumWorks appears in science 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 NumWorks 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: NumWorks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Graphing calculators, Products introduced in 2017, Programmable calculators, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NumWorks 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 NumWorks in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is NumWorks in simple terms?

Why does NumWorks matter?

Because it connects several science 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 NumWorks?

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 NumWorks.