Calculating the bible

I must be accustomed to taking out my calculator every time I take out my mechanical pencil because in sunday school class I found myself with a calculator open in hand while listening to the sermon for a brief moment before nonchalantly putting in back in my backpack.  I must have been dazed from losing an hour from daylight savings time and I tried to think of a reason for it to be out so I could look like I had known what I was doing but couldn’t come up with anything.  Letsee if you add up the number of prophecies of Balaam and divide by the chapters …. I’m sure I have no reason to be embarrassed.  I mean who really watches other people take notes in class anyway?!?!

5 Comments

  • R2

    March 17, 2011 at 10:45 am Reply

    🙂 The most obvious answer for using calculator in Sunday school class, “Progressing daily Bible reading.”

    • theo

      March 17, 2011 at 5:50 pm Reply

      Uh…  I suppose if you were finished with Exodus 28 at time t and were curious what the percent of chapters remaining following the Kaplan-Meier Product Limit Estimator Sn(t) =Π (1 – si/ri), where si is the number of chapters read at time i and ri are the total chapters remaining then I guess you could pull out your calculator …

      Or you could just skip all that and read Exodus 29 next.  That’s what I normally do.

  • R2

    March 17, 2011 at 9:06 pm Reply

    The content between Exodus 28 and 29 has potential. Reading about “Π” and “si/ri” could be the new cure for insominia. No side effect.

    • theo

      March 18, 2011 at 12:29 pm Reply

      Actually since we have complete data, S(t) really boils down to # of chapters not read / # of chapters in the bible. Not that interesting, but a calculator could be helpful if you don’t want to divide by 1189 in your head.

      This could actually cause insomnia if a guy is really excited about math. But I don’t know many people running home to find their latest North American Actuarial Journal to read about The Moments of the Time of Ruin in Markovian Risk Models, so I’ll give you that one.

  • R2

    March 18, 2011 at 2:27 pm Reply

    Yes, prescription for insomnia patients: read “The Moments of the Time of Ruin in Markovian Risk Models” before bed. For those who suffer severe insomnia, read the article twice.

    On the other hand, Monte Carlo @ risk model for contingency calculation can truly cause insomnia for many. Seeking professional opinion on this subject.

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