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The Internet’s secret shame

From soft baby at http://hashitout.com/

People can’t count.

Posted on December 29th, 2007 by rob2e

People can’t count. People take numbers for granted. Ask anyone how many numbers there are from one to ten. They’ll say ten. Ask that same person how many numbers there are from ten to twenty. They’ll say ten again.

When you point out how wrong they are, they actually get mad. Remember folks, most people who get mad or defensive about something know they’re wrong. They just don’t like having it pointed out to them.

In this specific example, you can prove it to them in various ways. Ten minus one equals nine, yet there are ten numbers from one to ten. It’s called adding the fence post. Any time you want to know how many numbers are from X to Y inclusive, you subtract X from Y and add one. That’s the fence post. So from ten to twenty — twenty minus ten is ten plus the fence post equals eleven. There are ELEVEN numbers from ten to twenty. Further, you can actually count it out on your fingers. People think this is some kinda bar trick or deception. Nope. They’re just dumb. When you go through this process with them, they’ll invariably say something like, “Well, that’s stupid.”

“No. YOU’RE stupid.”

It’s like 2006 having Super Bowl XL (40 for non Romans). When you ask people when the first Super Bowl was, they always say 1966. WRONG AGAIN! It was 1967. Remember the fence post. Look it up for Christ’s sake. Hell if not for the son of God, then look it up for your OWN sake. Don’t be an idiot.

Another one is when something happens for the first time (let’s just say a company picnic) and then when the next one rolls around a year later, people refer to it as the second anniversary of the company picnic. NO! Second ANNUAL, yes. Second anniversary, no. It’s the FIRST anniversary. What is the problem with this math today? Dummies.

And what about military time. It’s SO FUCKING EASY. People make it hard. It’s not. Any hour that is bigger than 12 you subtract 12. That’s it. That’s the whole formula. 1300 = 1:00. 1900 = 7:00. 2330 = 11:30. MORONS!

You know what? If any of this applies to you, you probably can’t read anyway. And you’re not going to give me kudos on this blog because you don’t know what kudos means. And you’re probably Christian.

But if I may offer you some advice for life in general regarding math (in the immortal words of Mr. Tom Hanks on an episode of Family Ties where he says to Jennifer) –”If all else fails, X = 8.”

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