[1633] in Humor

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HUMOR: New Math

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Tue Oct 8 10:28:49 1996

From: <abennett@MIT.EDU>
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 08 Oct 1996 10:22:09 EDT


Well, it certainly explains a lot...

-Drew

Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 23:54:51 -0800
From: connie@interserve.com (Connie Kleinjans)
From: "Mark D. Baushke" <mdb@cisco.com>
From: Ted Kopulos <Ted_Kopulos@qmgates.affymax.com>

 After applying some simple algebra to some trite phrases and cliches a new
 understanding can be reached of the secret to wealth and success.

 Here it goes.

     Knowledge is Power
     Time is Money and as every engineer knows,
     Power is Work over Time.

 So, substituting algebraic equations for these time worn bits of wisdom, we
 get:
         K = P    (1)
         T = M    (2)
         P = W/T  (3)

 Now, do a few simple substitutions:

     Put W/T in for P in equation (1), which yields:

         K = W/T  (4)

     Put M in for T into equation (4), which yields:

         K = W/M  (5).

 Now we've got something.  Expanding back into English, we get:

         Knowledge equals Work over Money.

 What this MEANS is that:

         1. The More You Know, the More Work You Do, and
         2. The More You Know, the Less Money You Make.


 Solving for Money, we get:

         M = W/K  (6)

         Money equals Work Over Knowledge.

 From equation (6) we see that Money approaches infinity as Knowledge
 approaches 0, regardless of the Work done.

 What THIS MEANS is:

         The More you Make, the Less you Know.

 Solving for Work, we get

         W = M x K  (7)
         Work equals Money times Knowledge

 From equation (7) we see that Work approaches 0 as Knowledge approaches 0.

     What THIS MEANS is:

         The stupid rich do little or no work.

 Working out the socioeconomic implications of this breakthrough is left as an
 exercise for the reader.

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