> I punched in several senarios with the calculator and i believe you are
> right.  You don't get the exact figure but close enough.  The board has
> random white areas with a random pattern.  For the  multiplying by 3 to
> be correct the white areas must be one third of the whole.

FWIW, IMO this is not rocket science.  The reaction after a quick glance (with
specs for us over 50) should be, good, not bad, bad, awful, or Oh-OH!  Excessive
accuracy is a time-waster after the novelty wears off.

Only when you have no varroa, or very little, is counting at all tricky.  After
that, a glance and occasional count for calibration purposes will suffice for
most practical purposes.  The fancy boards with careful counting capabilities
are for those who only have a few hives or are just learning to recognise the
beasts -- or scientists.  After the initial training period, anything white will
do for most of us.

> ... The Penn State board has a reusable feature as it is laminated.
> The instructions say:
> Cover this board with a thin layer of petroleum jelly;scrape off and
> re-coat to reuse.

We use coroplast cut into pieces about the size of a sheet of foundation and
spray them with Pam.  There is no need to sample the whole hive floor.  Just the
area under the main cluster and brood is of interest, and if you miss some area,
you can guess how much by the drop pattern.  It is pretty obvious how much of
the circle is missing and the drop is usually fairly uniform over the are (or
the board you mention would not work).  A window squeegee will clean off the
Pam -- or a quick rinse in the sink with some detergent and a brush will do the
trick.

allen