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Re: [Phys-l] stencil

On 03/31/2009 06:46 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
I am looking for a stencil/template to draw (the old-fashioned way) small
right triangles for various physics questions. I already have stencils for
circles. ellipses, and squares. I checked online and in various math
catalogs with little success. Some equilateral triangles, but no right
triangles.

Does anyone know of a source for something like this?

Well, to answer a slightly different question:

I draw lots of triangles, and I've never needed or even wished
for a stencil. I find I can do better using _graph paper_ and
a straightedge.

A stencil is fine for NOR gates and such, i.e. stuff that is hard
to draw without a stencil ... but for triangles, not so much. In
my experience, the chance that the stencil will have the desired
size and shape of right triangle is practically nil, so even if I
had a stencil with a few triangles, it wouldn't get used.

Using graph paper and straightedge allows me much more choice
as to size and shape. The accuracy of the size and shape is
more than good enough for any sort of physics diagrams or
illustrations.

I use "engineering paper" (aka "nerd paper") quad ruled on *one*
side only, such that the grid is not picked up when the page is
copied; only my diagram gets picked up. Also the paper erases
cleanly and survives multiple erasures.

http://www.greenlightoffice.com/office/stationery/781-rediform-national-computation-pad-200-sheet-s-quad-ruled-letter-8-5-x-11-200-pad-green.html

If the diagram is so complicated that I can't do it on graph
paper, it's time to fire up the computer. Inkscape is free
and runs on Linux, Mac, and MS.
http://www.inkscape.org/download/?lang=en