Randomness

[manlymatt83]

OK, so I'm driving to work this morning, and the road i'm on is clear. I'm cruising along at about 50 mph, when all of a sudden, the road converts to a single lane each way and 35 mph, for about 5-6 miles. I usually zip through here around 40 mph, but never more.

Anyway, as SOON as I get to the 35 mph single lane spot, a car pulls out in front of me out of their driveway. Now, this road is usually clear, but my luck, I got stuck behind some old guy going 25-30 for about 6 miles, without being able to pass.

Now, this got me thinking..... on some kind of theory of randomness.

For instance, ever go into your gym and see COMPLETELY different people than you saw that same day and time exactly a week ago? Yet there seem to be the same amount of people. 100 people decided to come on Thursday at 4 pm in week one, and 100 people decided to come on Thursday at 4 pm in week two, yet only about 20 people overlap the two dates.

Why? Is this randomness? 80 people stayed home, for each person that stayed home, someone else came? And if so, is this guaranteed? Is there something written in the books that says that if someone stays home, another person must go in their place to maintain adequate randomness?

Or what about a gas station. Ever go to a gas station and see 3 people in line, and then look back 5 minutes later without ANYTHING changing and see 20 people in line? Unlikely. I mean, sure... traffic could cause something like this, but I mean without anything changing. Just a normal day with normal cirumstances.

Something, somehow, makes randomness occur so that only 3-5 people are at that gas station at once. Its just odd.

So, my big question is: If that guy who pulled out in front of me had a flat tire this morning, would someone else have been there to cover his spot? Or would I have had the road to myself?



hmmm....

 

[NaOH]

You would like the movie Magnolia

 

[Vegitto]

Dude, that rocks. Can I use your examples to write a formula and theorize about it?

 

[pontifex]

this will really blow your mind then....

maybe that guy that pulled in front of you WAS the replacement for the guy that was SUPPOSED to pull out in front of you?

 

[SlitheryDee]

You would have had the road to yourself.

Having a set number of various things at a certain place or time is not as random as having variable numbers of variable things at any place or time. Whatever you're theory is it's not a theory of randomness, it's more like a kind of imposed order over seemingly random events.

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: pontifex
this will really blow your mind then....

maybe that guy that pulled in front of you WAS the replacement for the guy that was SUPPOSED to pull out in front of you?

Quite interesting. Yes, Yes maybe he was!

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: Vegitto
Dude, that rocks. Can I use your examples to write a formula and theorize about it?

Sure I guess?

 

[RedArmy]

Chaos Theory?

 

[QED]

You are seeing exactly what one would expect to see when people have a fixed priority or need to do certain things-- such as working out on a Thursday, or filling up their car with gas.

There are some people that work out like clockwork every Thursday at a particular time-- for the purposes of your observation, you can ignore them as they don't cause any net fluctuation in the number of people you see working out at that time on different Thursdays. Others never work out on Thursdays, and you can also ignore those. Everyone else has some likelihood between 0 and 1 that they will workout on Thursday at that particular time-- but this, by definition, is contant over the range of all Thursdays. Hence, the number of expected people working out at Thursday at a set time is roughly constant-- subject to normal standard disbribution deviation.

 

[Kyanzes]

Maybe you were both replacements for two other people who didn't show up that day... I mean come on. Fact is, that you don't know what happens on that road when you are not there. If you wish to theorize on this further, I suggest to park down and watch out for patterns. Or simply drive to the filling station, buy a cola and a sandwich and watch out for incoming test subjects. I doubt that you will find anything aside from the obvious: in certain time-frames the traffic is heavier. You speak as there would be alternatives to certain happenings. There are no alternatives.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Everything has a pattern if you look at it from a large enough point of view.

OP, check out the movie Pi

 

[imported_inspire]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
OK, so I'm driving to work this morning, and the road i'm on is clear. I'm cruising along at about 50 mph, when all of a sudden, the road converts to a single lane each way and 35 mph, for about 5-6 miles. I usually zip through here around 40 mph, but never more.

Anyway, as SOON as I get to the 35 mph single lane spot, a car pulls out in front of me out of their driveway. Now, this road is usually clear, but my luck, I got stuck behind some old guy going 25-30 for about 6 miles, without being able to pass.

Now, this got me thinking..... on some kind of theory of randomness.

For instance, ever go into your gym and see COMPLETELY different people than you saw that same day and time exactly a week ago? Yet there seem to be the same amount of people. 100 people decided to come on Thursday at 4 pm in week one, and 100 people decided to come on Thursday at 4 pm in week two, yet only about 20 people overlap the two dates.

Why? Is this randomness? 80 people stayed home, for each person that stayed home, someone else came? And if so, is this guaranteed? Is there something written in the books that says that if someone stays home, another person must go in their place to maintain adequate randomness?

Or what about a gas station. Ever go to a gas station and see 3 people in line, and then look back 5 minutes later without ANYTHING changing and see 20 people in line? Unlikely. I mean, sure... traffic could cause something like this, but I mean without anything changing. Just a normal day with normal cirumstances.

Something, somehow, makes randomness occur so that only 3-5 people are at that gas station at once. Its just odd.

So, my big question is: If that guy who pulled out in front of me had a flat tire this morning, would someone else have been there to cover his spot? Or would I have had the road to myself?



hmmm....

It's friday, you're bored, work needs to end so you can go home. I'll drink an extra beer for you. :beer: :beer:

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: inspire

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
OK, so I'm driving to work this morning, and the road i'm on is clear. I'm cruising along at about 50 mph, when all of a sudden, the road converts to a single lane each way and 35 mph, for about 5-6 miles. I usually zip through here around 40 mph, but never more.

Anyway, as SOON as I get to the 35 mph single lane spot, a car pulls out in front of me out of their driveway. Now, this road is usually clear, but my luck, I got stuck behind some old guy going 25-30 for about 6 miles, without being able to pass.

Now, this got me thinking..... on some kind of theory of randomness.

For instance, ever go into your gym and see COMPLETELY different people than you saw that same day and time exactly a week ago? Yet there seem to be the same amount of people. 100 people decided to come on Thursday at 4 pm in week one, and 100 people decided to come on Thursday at 4 pm in week two, yet only about 20 people overlap the two dates.

Why? Is this randomness? 80 people stayed home, for each person that stayed home, someone else came? And if so, is this guaranteed? Is there something written in the books that says that if someone stays home, another person must go in their place to maintain adequate randomness?

Or what about a gas station. Ever go to a gas station and see 3 people in line, and then look back 5 minutes later without ANYTHING changing and see 20 people in line? Unlikely. I mean, sure... traffic could cause something like this, but I mean without anything changing. Just a normal day with normal cirumstances.

Something, somehow, makes randomness occur so that only 3-5 people are at that gas station at once. Its just odd.

So, my big question is: If that guy who pulled out in front of me had a flat tire this morning, would someone else have been there to cover his spot? Or would I have had the road to myself?



hmmm....

It's friday, you're bored, work needs to end so you can go home. I'll drink an extra beer for you. :beer: :beer:

Thanks