wind to thy wings~

Saturday, August 25, 2007

I realised The Economist is really a very very good read. Ok I didn't realise that recently but I just thought I'd say it here. Because it provides information on just about everything. Which is quite cool right? So reading one issue from back to back would actually provide enough for you to go into the examination hall to write a veritable essay, provided you remember everything. So why not just get a copy from the news stand in the market or [You know I have no idea where news stands can be found]... Yeah, so why do people order it in batches of 3 years, at a much larger cost of them despite the heavily discounted price, instead of simply grabbing one copy at $11 the week before GP Prelims?

This is why...

Let x represent the wholeness of knowledge, ranging from 0 to 1, with 1 representing complete and whole knowledge.

1) Assume every issue of The Economist provides whole and truthful information on every single subject. x = 1

2) Estimate retention rate of reading [For Zhi Xu that should be able 5% = 0.05, I have EXTREMELY short term memory] x = 1 x 0.05

3) Premium for new information every week, more updates on the same issue and new findings and happenings. x = 1 x 0.05 x 1.5

4) Premium of special reports estimated to be 14 pages out of 105 pages occuring in a 1 in 4 chance. I didn't go and count this so of course this is not accurate at all. x = 1 x 0.05 x 1.5 x (1 + 14/105 x 1/4)

5) Usefulness of data, you write one in twelve essays, so take that to be 1/12. x = 1 x 0.05 x 1.5 x (1 + 14/105 x 1/4) x 1/12

6) And then, when you pay for 3 years, 1 issue per week. x = 1 x 0.05 x 1.5 x (1 + 14/105 x 1/4) x 1/12 x 3 x 52

7) x = 1.0075

That actually gives a bit more than complete and whole knowledge, which is of course impossible. But Singapore is the Cities of Possiblities so it IS possible. Anyway, these figures are all crappy and I would be very very worried if you put any stake in them. Kind of reminded me of the days back in GIC where I had to estimate the worth of stock in a company and random figures, extrapolation and assumptions have to be made! Of course I tweaked the figures to make it go back to 1. DUH. So please do not believe me. This is a random penchant for writing proofs. LOL. I'm going a bit mad from all the reading.

Back to MORE reading.

wishing wind to thy wings at 5:51 PM
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