Wednesday, April 8, 2015

G is for . . .

This month I'm doing Mad-Cool-Math Nuggets to spread the word that math is more than arithmetic.


Image courtesy: FrodOx

G is for Graphs With Benefits. Whoa! Who knew, right?

This title comes from the article The Twelve Most Controversial Facts In Mathematics on the website Business Insider. One of those twelve facts is that your friends are probably more popular, on average, than you, which means they probably have more, um, notches on their bedpost than you, if you get my drift. It also means their blogs have more followers as will their Twitter accounts--something to keep in mind as you flit from blog to blog during this challenge.

As an introvert, this doesn't surprise me in the least. Of course my friends have more friends than me. But what if you don't consider yourself an introvert? What's going on?

The Business Insider article (link above) is quick and easy to follow, but I know you're busy, so the key here is your super-extroverted pal or pals. (Alex Cavanaugh, I'm looking at you. Or Mini-Alex. Isn't that scavenger hunt a blast?)

Anyway, as soon as you know (or hook up) with one of these super-popular folks, it skews the average number of friends of your friends (with or without benefits) above the number of your friends. Got it?

No? Okay, here's a little example. Say you have 3 friends, Mike, Amy, and Joe. Mike has 3 friends, Amy has 1 friend (you), and Joe has 20 friends. So the average number of friends of your friends is (3+1+20)/3 = 8. And 8 is more than your 3 friends.

So which are you? The introvert with a few friends or the extrovert behind this mathematical phenomena?

______________

This week, I'm giving away one of my short stories, Ursa Major, for free. It takes place in a small, Maine town, the main character is a social outcast, and there's a fantasy element involving bears. The author most likely to have influenced this work is

(a) Stephen King
(b) Salmon Rushdie
(c) Margaret Mitchell

Thanks for playing!




15 comments:

  1. I'm an introvert too, so my friends definitely have more friends than I do in real life...but they can't compete with my blogging friends. ;)

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  2. I'm an introvert as well. Though the extrovert friends do help us out!

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  3. I haven't read the story yet, but I went and got it yesterday, but going from your description, I'd say Stephen King... I've been making the rounds on the Scavenger Hunt too! I'm a bit of both I/E, but think I'd fall in the category of not Alex. I'm trying to "get out" into the universe a bit more, but am generally happy at home ("write" here in front of this computer), unless I get the chance to go visit my kids... Lisa, co-host AtoZ 2015, @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com

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  4. I would guess Stephen King.

    I'm more extrovert in some areas and introverted in others. I guess I am the friend in the middle.

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  5. I'm an introvert, so I wouldn't be surprised if most people are more popular than me. I like math, maybe that's an introverts way of having fun (and I'm happy to have math as a major part of my job)

    Cold As Heaven

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  6. Who knew math was controversial? Now it gets so much more interesting! Yep, we writer types so often all into the introvert category. I do know my friends are more popular than I am. But that's okay. Popularity is exhausting.

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  7. I'm the confused one scratching his head! Let's have another look? Oh, got it. I am, always have been and always will be an........extrovert!

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  8. I'm with Chrys Fae. My friends in real life have more friends than me but I have TONS more online friends lol. (and people say I am an extrovert O.o not sure if I believe them yet)

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  9. Hi, visiting from the A-Z and new follower here. Love your math theme. I look forward to reading more. Most people think their unpopular...it's kind of universal.
    Come check out Inventions by Women A-Z
    http://shells-tales-sails.blogspot.com/

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  10. I'm looking at you, Tamara!
    I still think I'm an introvert. Go figure.
    And sorry so late today!

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  11. Has to be Stephen King... or was that just misdirection... (oh, I'm thinking Princess Diaries now :)

    PS... I'm the extrovert who learnt about 18 months after starting to blog and tweet that (it doesn't matter) how many followers you have... is much less important than letting your "voice" ring freely in all that you post/tweet.

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  12. Definitely an introvert in real life, but I'm happy to count many blogging friends! Got to be Stephen King.

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  13. I was completely bamboozled by your post, but I'm an introvert. (I recharge my batteries alone.) Stephen King for sure. I only had to read that your story was set in Maine.

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  14. Love math controversies. A closer look usually tends to significantly reduce the controversy.

    I seem to have more people who claim me as a friend than whom I consider friend. Which is rather oddly surprising. In general, I'm an introvert though I like people as long as there's not too many for too long a time.

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I will do everything in my power to visit commenter's blogs unless I've been abducted by aliens or my children get sick. (If my children get abducted by aliens, I will be very busy, of course, catching up on my sleep.)