Day 249: Math

Today, I did what I did best, which was draw maps of countries (America, this time) on 8 ½ x 11 sheets of paper and draw lines on the maps and then do "calculations" to figure out which flights to buy and thus what itinerary will make the "most sense" when attempting to tie together a trip somewhere. (This time: Seattle, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Miami, New Orleans, LA).

Most Sense = Least Money Spent + Most Frequent Flier Miles Accrued + Least Plane Changes/Long Train Rides + Maximum Fun.

Although I am very bad at math, I like the concept of algorithms, and I say that not knowing what an algorithm is, or if this is one. Maybe I just mean equation. I really am not the one to ask.

It may come as a shock to you, but I (Claire), like overanalyzing. Maybe that is why I like this picture, which represents the fact that someone at the water purification place should have done more analyzing so as to not place the water purification sign in the pigeon park.



It may also come as a shock to you that I (Claire) email a lot. For this reason, I once created an equation that determined the amount of emails that each of my closest friend sent to our group list. I, it is needless to say, send many a day. With seven days and counting ‘til the first wedding in our group of girlfriends, you may understand why my inbox had nothing short of 60 today (8 people, you see).

Here is my equation. I believe that you can use it for your friends, family, boyfriend, teacher, etc. Although it is specifically formulated for people you are particularly close with, and so if the person actually does not have much of a reason to email you (say the person is Pamela Anderson, for instance), then you have to factor that in. I am not sure how, but I bet someone can figure that out.

How Often X Person Will Email Me =

[(Hours of Time Online + Amount Slept)/Job Fun] – [close friends within a 20 mile radius – number of significant others] = the number of emails you receive.

Let’s practice.

We’ll use Lara as an example.

Hours of Time Online: 8
Amount Slept: 7
Job Fun Factor on a scale of 1 to 3: 1
Number of Significant Others: 0 (Claire does not count)
Number of Close friends within a 20 mile radius: 1, currently (Kelly from Kenya).

[(8+4)/1] – [0-1] = 13. Lara should be sending 13 emails a day to her friends when she is engaged in one of her really boring jobs like editing.

But what about when Lara is doing interesting writing work she enjoys?

Let’s Check:

Hours of Time Online: 12 (more time online we think, "doing work")
Number of Hours Slept: 5 (sleep less when you like what you’re doing)
Job Fun Factor: 3
Number of close friends within a 20 mile radius: 1, Still just Kelly.

[(12+5)/3] – [0 - 1] = 4 2/3 emails a day.

Try it, I'm sure you'll find flaws. But it is kind of genious. Except I always spell that word wrong.