Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:51:54 -0700 From: Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> To: Erich Dollansky <erichfreebsdlist@ovitrap.com> Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: way way off topic Message-ID: <20121023225154.GE29440@ethic.thought.org> In-Reply-To: <20121023113436.6748c811@X220.ovitrap.com> References: <20121023042007.GA14738@ethic.thought.org> <20121023113436.6748c811@X220.ovitrap.com>
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On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:34:36AM +0700, Erich Dollansky wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:20:07 -0700
> Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> wrote:
>
> >
> > apologies up front for this math type quandary. I had it in a std C
> > program, but 3+ hours of grepping havent found it. I would have bet
> > my last cent that I had a summary Somewhere, but cant find that
> > either.
> >
> > here is the problem as best I can remember it.
> >
> >
> > let's say that john is 8 and his older friend, jim, is 22.
> > how much older is exact percentage terms is jim?
> >
> > to find the answer I had to find the relative difference {22 - 8} and
> > then do something with the difference. this isn't any kind of trick
> > or "advanced-cognition"; I just thought it was clever [and exact].
> > it obviously works for finding the abs() results in subtraction.
> > it's something I found on the web and swipes and save the prose
> > discussion. BZZT: Lost, :-(
> >
> It seems that I am also lost. What should abs() do here?
>
> I would multiply the age of john and the difference with 100 and then
> divide the result to get the percentage.
>
> Or did I get lost here?
>
> > if this seems dumb, I plead guilty!
> >
> > im asking here because -questions is the sharpest list on the net.
> >
>
> Are you sure?
>
> Erich
LOL. yes!
it's been years since I used the steps to find the accurant amount of
difference. it may not have involved a %. I can only think of one
concrete example.
lets say that x == 15 and y == 16. Q: how much less is x than y?
it is not just "1"; there was some other way of finding the answer.
--
Gary Kline kline@thought.org http://www.thought.org Public Service Unix
Twenty-six years of service to the Unix community.
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