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I am describing an experiment for a scientific paper. In this experiment, I use a very well-known technique which I briefly describe, similar to the following variant (#1):
In this experiment, we measured the performance of our machine using the well-known method B.
B took the machine, turned it around three times, did some weird things with it, and then came up with a performance number.
Should the second sentence be in the past or present tense?
Since it should be a general description of how method B works and not what it actually did, it sounds strange to me that it is in past tense but a native speaker (but not a technical writer) told me to do so.
I would prefer this variant (#2):
In this experiment, we measured the performance of our machine using the well-known method B.
B takes the machine, turns it around three times, does some weird things with it, and then comes up with a performance number.
What variant makes more sense?
(2)More posts by @Debbie451
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Variant #1 does not make sense. Using the past tense implies a particular instance: Someone performed method B one specific time. The omission of a person's name or personal pronoun from the example sentence adds to the confusion and seems like a typo.
Use variant #2 . It makes more sense but still needs something. Method B doesn't do itself. Identify the person performing method B by their role. For example, "In method B, the tester takes the machine, turns it around three times, does some weird things with it, and then comes up with a performance number."
The first sentence refers to the experiment in the past tense ("measured"). For the sake of consistency, the second sentence should be past tense as well.
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