NOBEL PRIZE ALERT
How Mathematics Helps You To Find The Best Porta Potty
(Thanks to Asher Scheiner)
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October 18, 2021
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Most people are mathematically illiterate after 5 beers.
Posted by: LeDud | October 18, 2021 at 10:03 AM
I guess it all boils down to DEPENDS.
Posted by: guy | October 18, 2021 at 10:35 AM
LeDud--You are so correct. After a few good beers, even Albert Einstein would have soiled his pants before deciphering this mathematical enigma. E=MC2 was a snap compared to porta-potty math.
Posted by: Le Petomane | October 18, 2021 at 10:38 AM
I’m impressed by the elegant use of probability theory in the blog today. But Murphy’s Law says that your bathroom emergency will occur when there is exactly 1 port-a-potty available, and it will be the one last used by an elephant with explosive diarrhea.
Posted by: Math-Yoda | October 18, 2021 at 10:42 AM
I believe the time trusted formula is: "The torque of the dork is proportional to the inverse of the square of the angle of the dangle".
Posted by: Fig Newton | October 18, 2021 at 10:53 AM
Until you open the door of a porta-potty it's a lot like Schrodinger's cat.
Posted by: cfjk | October 18, 2021 at 10:58 AM
cfjk---How true. If Shrodinger's cat was shut in a porta-potty, it would have been exposed to multiple "explosions" and once released, the cat would be loaded with screaming entropy and moving fast enough to experience multiverses.
I believe the moral here is Shrodinger should never have had a cat.
Posted by: Le Petomane | October 18, 2021 at 11:18 AM
If you read their solution, it depends on the potties being arrainged from cleanest to funkiest.
In which case, the answer's kinda obvious.
(My solution is, which one can I get to quickest. But that's me.)
Posted by: ed in texas | October 18, 2021 at 11:28 AM
" if there are 100 toilets at a music concert, you must peek inside 37 of them "
How many can you peek inside without fainting from the stench ? Let math figure that out.
Posted by: Clankie | October 18, 2021 at 12:06 PM
Ed on Texas, it was just an example. The math works even where you don't know.
Posted by: Asher Scheiner | October 18, 2021 at 01:05 PM
I did note that they assumed you were drinking Pepsi and not beer in the article. As pointed out above, beer changes the calculations and makes them almost impossible to figure. I'm with ed in texas- which one is open and available and I'll take my chances.
Posted by: C. Robbin | October 18, 2021 at 02:36 PM
I have to pick from potty number 1, potty number 2, or potty number 3? I never heard Monty Hall offer that choice.
Posted by: wanderer2575 | October 18, 2021 at 04:21 PM
How does this one fit into the equation?
Porta Potty.
Posted by: ChrisinVa | October 19, 2021 at 09:32 AM