This file is a guide to the Number Machine program and will give you all the information you need to create your own Number Machine work sheets.
To start the Number Machine program simply double click on !NumMachine and the program will run. If you get a bad mode error change to mode 15 from the desktop. After a quick introduction the main Number Machine screen will appear. The main screen consists of a button bar at the top, a big black box in the midle which contains the number machine just created (at the start this will be black because you have not created one) and at the bottom there is an information bar.
At the moment the mouse will only move around in the button bar. Any of the text which is in a purple box can be clicked on and also when the pointer is over it, information will appear in the information bar at the bottom of the screen.
The first icon on the button bar is the exit icon and clicking on here with select will take you back to the desktop.
The next icon along is the options icon and this will take you to an options screen.
The options screen is split into three parts, the button bar, a list of options and an information bar.
You can move the mouse either in the button bar or the list of options and moving the mouse over any of the purple icons will produce help in the information bar at the bottom of the screen about the icon under the pointer.
The two icons in the button bar are the save and load icons. Clicking on the save icon will save the current options onto disc and clicking on the load icon will load them back off disc.
The next box on the screen allows you to change the options. When you click on the options a question will appear in the information bar at the bottom of the screen and you will need to type in the new information.
Allow negative number calculations - This is to set if the calculations can result in a negative number eg subtract can result in a negative number.
Number of boxes - This sets how many boxes there are going across. In example 1 there were 4.
Maximum start - All number machines start with a number and this is random for every machine and so this icon sets what the maximum number is.
Calculations in boxes - The four icons in this catagory set which calculations can appear in the boxes eg you can make it do a number machine entirly of add's. To change these click on one, and then type Y for yes or N for no.
Maximum value in boxes - This sets what the maximum value each of the instructions can contain for example you could set the addition and subtraction to 20 but put the multiplication and division down to 10. This would mean that any calculation that was an adition or subtraction could not be over 20 and a multiplication of division couldn't be over 10. To change these click on the one to change and type in the new value and press return.
Text line 1 and text line 2 - All number machines produced allow two strings of text at the top which usually contains things like levels and card numbers. To change these click on the one you want to change and then type in the new text string and press return.
Font - This sets which font will be used in the final file. Number Machine allows either Corpus, Trinity, Homerton or System. To change the font click on the icon the press either C, T, H or S. If you want a different then you will have to change it from !Draw.
To exit from this screen press escape.
---------------------Creating a new number machine---------------------------
Once you have set up the options or are happy with the defalt ones then click on create and a number machine will be created. The newly created number machine is displayed in the midle part of the screen. This display is only there to give you an idea of what the final thing will look like and is not exact in appearence eg the selected font is not used and the size is smaller. If you are not happy with it, click on the create icon again and a new one will be made. If you try and have to many boxes going across then they will go off the side of the screen but they will still be saved.
-----------------------Saving a number machine-------------------------------
The demo version will not save any thing and so you will have to buy the full version. Files are saved in draw format.
With number machines being for young children I decided that decimal calculations would make it to hard and so there are no calculations that result in a decimal answer.
