I have a math question

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Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
what does geometry have to do with economics?

Nothing. Economists are no better then psychologists or sociologists. They try to hide their professions failures with lots of jargon and confusing math. They claim to practice science, yet there is no scientific method to be found. At best, they make for some good entertainment (freakanomics).
 

uclaLabrat

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2007
5,632
3,045
136
Nothing. Economists are no better then psychologists or sociologists. They try to hide their professions failures with lots of jargon and confusing math. They claim to practice science, yet there is no scientific method to be found. At best, they make for some good entertainment (freakanomics).
The problem with economics is that the systems they study are so large and complex that there are myriad dependent and independent variables that can't be controlled or isolated directly. As a result, any conclusions they draw are a function of critical assumptions or constraints that may or may not represent anything we will realistically encounter in real life, and thus may or may not be accordingly useful.

It's not that they don't provide insight, it just can be extremely difficult to extrapolate those insights correctly.
 

Dari

Lifer
Oct 25, 2002
17,133
38
91
Nothing. Economists are no better then psychologists or sociologists. They try to hide their professions failures with lots of jargon and confusing math. They claim to practice science, yet there is no scientific method to be found. At best, they make for some good entertainment (freakanomics).

Just admit you don't understand it. It's ok, not everyone does.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,027
0
76
An ice cream shop sees 212 customers during its 12 hour work day.

What is the likelihood that 5 customers will walk thru the door in the next 8 minutes?

That means 203.8s per customer. This means that every second there is a 0.49% chance of a customer appearing.

Assuming a binomial distribution with n = 480 trials with 0.49% each trial and that the next customer's appearance is independent of the appearance of the previous customer, for x = 5 there is a 5.697% chance.

EDIT: calculating by the minute, there's a 29.44% chance per minute. Assuming a binomial distribution with n = 8 and x = 5, there is 4.35% chance.
 
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shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
Nope.

Its not binomial, there is no chance of failure. You cant count all the customers that didnt come in.
Its a waiting line problem, and requires a poisson solution.


you break down customers per hour and then if needed, customers per minute.

http://stattrek.com/probability-distributions/poisson.aspx



Having said that, you are smarter than anyone else in this thread and I therefor award you one free handjob, to be collected at your convenience.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
image010.jpg
 

Dari

Lifer
Oct 25, 2002
17,133
38
91
Nope.

Its not binomial, there is no chance of failure. You cant count all the customers that didnt come in.
Its a waiting line problem, and requires a poisson solution.


you break down customers per hour and then if needed, customers per minute.

http://stattrek.com/probability-distributions/poisson.aspx



Having said that, you are smarter than anyone else in this thread and I therefor award you one free handjob, to be collected at your convenience.

Queueing theory. Not difficult if you took stochastic processes.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,027
0
76
Nope.

Its not binomial, there is no chance of failure. You cant count all the customers that didnt come in.
Its a waiting line problem, and requires a poisson solution.


you break down customers per hour and then if needed, customers per minute.

http://stattrek.com/probability-distributions/poisson.aspx



Having said that, you are smarter than anyone else in this thread and I therefor award you one free handjob, to be collected at your convenience.

Ah, I see. I was never good at stats.

Can I claim it now?

EDIT: never mind the handjob. Does the fact that the original period was for 1 day, but the test period is for 8 minutes change the working in any way? Or do you just say the expected number of people to frequent the shop in 8 minutes is 2.356 and go from there?
 
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shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
Yes, you expect 2.356 people in 8 minutes. Plug all of that into the above equation, with 5 in place of X.