[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Radiolab: What is the most average size thing

Mon Dec 30 13:18:10 PST 2024

I found a one hour youtube presentation [4] by the first author 
(Weinstein) on estimation. BTW he has a Ph.D. in physics from MIT 1988.

May be good for our group...

-- Mitch

On 2024-12-30 15:47, Mitchell I. Wolfe via LCTG wrote:

> About a year ago, I read this book:
> 
> Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail 
> Napkin [1]
> by Lawrence Weinstein (Author), John Adam (Author)
> 
> See the table of contents for the subject area categories.
> 
> The book and eBook are available from the Lexington Cary Library.
> 
> -- Mitch
> 
> On 2024-12-30 14:18, Ted Kochanski via LCTG wrote:
> 
> Re: - Average Size
> 
> Suggest picking some categories and then doing what VF Weiskopf called 
> Mountain Science [i.e. when you are hiking in the mountains with no 
> toolto do the calculating -- make estimates of things such as how tall 
> a mountain could be, how massive, etc
> 
> I would suggest -- what is the mean and median of objects [animate or 
> inanimate including things created by humans intentionally and 
> unintentionally] which float on the ocean [e.g. from micro-plankton to 
> Whales to Very Large Crude Carriers, Post PanaMax Container Ships, 
> Mini-city Cruise Ships, Ford Class Aircraft Carriers, etc] -- 
> dimensions, volume and mass
> 
> Ted
> 
> On Mon, Dec 30, 2024 at 11:01 AM Carl Lazarus via LCTG 
> <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:
> That Eames movie is wonderful.  On the Radiolab question, there is no 
> answer because the question is too vague.  What counts as a thing?  Can 
> you count both a collection and its components?
> 
> On Sun, Dec 29, 2024 at 9:34 PM John Rudy via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> 
> wrote:
> 
> Look up powers of Ten Eames 1977
> 
> John Rudy
> 
> 781-861-0402
> 
> 781-718-8334  cell
> 
> 13 Hawthorne Lane [2]
> 
> Bedford MA [2]
> 
> jjrudy1 at comcast.net
> 
> From: Robert Primak <bobprimak at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2024 9:28 PM
> To: 'Lexington Computer and Technology Group' <lctg at lists.toku.us>; 
> jjrudy1 at comcast.net
> Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Radiolab: What is the 
> most average size thing
> 
> That link doesn't work in the Chromium web browser.
> 
> -- Bob Primak
> 
> On Sunday, December 29, 2024 at 09:18:05 PM EST, <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> 
> wrote:
> 
> There was an interesting video made more than a decade ago that looked 
> at, as I recall, size.  It started with a person, and then grew, piece 
> by pice one order of magnitude to show what things are like at 
> different scales.  Then it did the same thing backwards by 1/10 at s 
> time.  I recall us showing the video at the club a long time ago.  
> Cannot recall what it was called.
> 
> See this video 
> https://www.google.com/search?q=video+progressively+making+units+biggr+by+a+factor+of+10&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1116US1116&oq=video+progressively+making+units+biggr+by+a+factor+of+10&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigATIHCAQQIRirAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCTI1MDgyajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f8c8d350,vid:0fKBhvDjuy0,st:0 
> [3]
> 
> John Rudy
> 
> 781-861-0402
> 
> 781-718-8334  cell
> 
> 13 Hawthorne Lane [2]
> 
> Bedford MA [2]
> 
> jjrudy1 at comcast.net
> 
> From: LCTG <lctg-bounces+jjrudy1=comcast.net at lists.toku.us> On Behalf 
> Of Robert Primak via LCTG
> Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2024 8:47 PM
> To: Lexington Computer and Technology Group <lctg at lists.toku.us>; Peter 
> Albin <palbin24 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Radiolab: What is the 
> most average size thing
> 
> I agree about the second part being of a nonscientific interest. But 
> nonetheless, of some interest, I think. (Not to our group for meeting 
> purposes, of course.)
> 
> The first part is interesting from a technology point of view. The 
> engineers in our group are always talking about doing "back of the 
> envelope" estimates of stuff, and that's exactly what this segment was 
> about. As with all such estimates, certain assumptions had to be made.
> 
> I was curious about why the idea of the Universe being 10^93 meters 
> across (based on Cosmic Inflation, not the farthest that light has ever 
> traveled) was rejected out of hand. That would have made the estimate 
> orders of magnitude bigger. But the use of the Planck Distance does 
> seem reasonable, because below that size the fabric of space-time seems 
> not to be measurable as a distance.
> 
> Interestingly enough, at least a couple of sets of their assumptions 
> led to the same result, but that might have been confirmation bias.
> 
> Too bad this isn't a video, because that would make it more useful for 
> a meeting. But maybe someone in the group who is much better at math 
> than I am might try to develop a slide show based on these estimates, 
> and explain where some of the assumptions may have come from.
> 
> -- Bob Primak
> 
> On Saturday, December 28, 2024 at 09:05:16 PM EST, Peter Albin via LCTG 
> <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:
> 
> Listen to the first half of this Radiolab podcast (~30 min) to answer
> 
> the question:
> 
> "First, after graduating from high school, without a clear plan for 
> what
> 
> to do next, Laura Andrews started asking herself a lot of questions. A
> 
> spiral of big philosophical thoughts that led her to sit down and write
> 
> to us with a question that was... oddly mathematical.  What is the most
> 
> average size thing, if you take into account everything in the 
> universe.
> 
> So, along with mathematician Steven Strogatz, we decided to see if we
> 
> could sit down and, in a friendly throwdown of guesstimates and quick
> 
> calculations, rough out an answer. "
> 
> http://www.wnycstudios.org/story/average-show/
> 
> If you are curious, the second segment ( specific moment in history 
> when
> 
> the world tried to find the "average" human body) is also interesting,
> 
> though, less scientific!
> 
> Peter
> 
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Links:
------
[1] 
https://www.amazon.com/Guesstimation-Solving-Worlds-Problems-Cocktail/dp/0691129495
[2] 
https://www.google.com/maps/search/13+Hawthorne+Lane+Bedford+MA?entry=gmail&source=g
[3] 
https://www.google.com/search?q=video+progressively+making+units+biggr+by+a+factor+of+10&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1116US1116&oq=video+progressively+making+units+biggr+by+a+factor+of+10&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigATIHCAQQIRirAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCTI1MDgyajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f8c8d350,vid:0fKBhvDjuy0,st:0
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8GH1ZPLG4
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