Re: Knowledge and Ignorance over Time
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 03:45:26 GMT
Message-ID: <qF5of.179726$Hs.49758_at_tornado.ohiordc.rr.com>
frosty wrote:
>>David Cressey wrote:
>>
>>>Paul C. said that he's still far from a database expert. So am I. But
>>>I've been learning, since about 1980.
>>>
>>>Over time (a long time!) I've noticed a pattern in the growth of my
>>>knowledge.
>>>
>>>If my knowledge base is likened to a sphere in a boundless universe,
>>>here's the pattern:
>>>
>>>My apparent knowledge grows like the radius of the sphere (like R).
>>>My apparent ignorance grows like the surface area of the sphere
>>>(like R squared).
>>>And the number of things I must keep in my head grows like the
>>>volume of the sphere (like R cubed).
>>>
>>>At some point, this looks like a case of diminishing marginal
>>>returns. But I wouldn't choose to go back to being as ignorant as I
>>>was when I was twenty, even if I got to be as smart as I was when I
>>>was twenty.
>>
> Jay Dee wrote: >
>>Close, but:
>>Area of a sphere = 4 pi r^2
>>Volume of a sphere = 4/3 pi r^3
> > > I believe the word "like," in this context, means "in proportion to." > So, you are both right. >
No "correction" was intended -- just clarification. Picky? You bet. Prickly? Sorry if it seemed that way; pedantic precision might be expected in a group named *.theory. Received on Thu Dec 15 2005 - 04:45:26 CET