>> Hmm. How the **** do people compute numbers like this?
> You know approximately how many people lived in a certain age and how 
> old they got. From then on it is a simple mathematical sum.

Yeah. My problem is how you arrive at this crucial first step.

>>  I mean, how can you *possibly* know how many people are alive right 
>> now? Obviously it's an estimate, but how do we tell if it's even 
>> remotely correct? It's not like you can *check* it!

> Oh yes you can. It is called a census. They have even done that in 
> china, which is of course the major contributor. I am sure they also do 
> that in the UK IIRC they also ask you for your religion and recognize it 
> if enough people answer it. Resulting in klingon and jedi and some other 
> strange ones to be official religions now.

How can you be sure it's accurate? Maybe it says that there are 20,000 
people in city X, but actually only 50% of the population replied. (Or 
something.)

Sure, you have birth certificates and death certificates, but again, how 
do we know those cover *everybody*? (Surely it must be pretty 
comprehensive, but totally? Hmm.)

>> I still like Warp's "grains of rice" example. (If only I could 
>> remember who the hell it was about...)
> 
> Is that the one where you put one gain of rice in a corner of a 
> chessboard and double it on the next square? until you have 2^63 at the 
> last one?

Yeah, that one.

Apparently 2^63 grains of rice is more rice than has ever existed in all 
of Earth's history, or something absurd like that...

(Damn, I *wish* there was a way of reliably finding out numbers like that!)

>> Try this: Walk up to somebody, and quietly tell them "you're going to 
>> die". Watch the look on their face. Seriously, they act like this is 
>> *news* or something...
> 
> Most people know they are going to die (or at least assume so, see 
> above). This line is mostly used in films and books meaning something 
> like 'you are going to die very very soon and I don't mean that on a 
> cosmic timescale'.

Ah. So you mean, by telling somebody something you're assumed to be 
implying that it will happen in an unusual way? (E.g., "soon".)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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