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Telephone desk

Telephone desk 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 Telephone desk rather than just read about it. In short: The telephone desk is the smallest kind of fixed desk. Its traditional role is to provide a working surface barely large enough to write notes while speaking on the telephone, and in some cases to support the telephone or hold telephone books.

Telephone desk — main illustration
Telephone desk — illustration

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The telephone desk is the smallest kind of fixed desk. Its traditional role is to provide a working surface barely large enough to write notes while speaking on the telephone, and in some cases to support the telephone or hold telephone books. In early generations of telephones the phone apparatus itself had a small desk built in. This was most common in wall mounted telephones of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The illustrations show front and side views of such an antique wall phone with a small slanted desk surface fitted with two ridges to keep paper and pencil from falling to the floor. The telephone desk has usually been a domestic piece of furniture. In an office a telephone would normally be placed on any form of desk, as close as possible to its users. Many 20th century telephone booths or call boxes had a tiny built-in desk surface for the convenience of customers. Vandalism and a higher concern for costs has led to the gradual elimination of these minuscule desk surfaces.

See also Desk and bench Gossip bench List of desk forms and types.

References Mr Chips 101 plans. Page 158: "wall telephone office". Early office museum. Telephone History

Illustrations

Telephone desk: Telephone with built in writing surface
Telephone with built in writing surface

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Telephone desk

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Telephone desk 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 Telephone desk 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 Telephone desk 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 Telephone desk

In research
Telephone desk 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 Telephone desk 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
Telephone desk is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Desks, Telephony equipment, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Telephone desk 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 Telephone desk in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Telephone desk in simple terms?

The telephone desk is the smallest kind of fixed desk. Its traditional role is to provide a working surface barely large enough to write notes while speaking on the telephone, and in some cases to support the telephone or hold telephone books.

Why does Telephone desk 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 Telephone desk?

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 Telephone desk.

Tags

  • Desks
  • Telephony equipment

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