Talk:563: Fermirotica
Explanation marked as incorrect. I would do some editing, but I do not have the time or explanation-writing skill to do so effectively.
Issues:
1. The explanation's listed April Fools' joke seems to have no proof; it has no mention in the comic.
2. The title text seems to just be a complaint against Google's methods for statistics (i.e. "I love" is sarcasm). All it says is that Google just wildly guesses, based on unrelated, random events, and calls it statistics. Zweisteine (talk) 04:26, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
I doubt that the title text was complaining or sarcastic at all. If I recall correctly, the ability to plug calculations with units into Google was pretty new in 2009, and especially useful, given as he switched his time units from minutes to years. 108.162.231.234 17:04, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
Except that it specifically states that Google guesses (stats are ballpark) and change based un unrelated occurrences (time of day and your mother's presence). That sounds like either sarcasm, or him actually loving how google doesn't (or didn't at the time) do a very good job with stats. Zweisteine (talk) 23:08, 17 January 2014 (UTC)
I agree with Zweisteine - it is obvious a sarcastic comment, because the results from Google is so random that it will change during the day - and of course there is the your mom joke. Is there a category for these comics? (Like with the velociraptor comics etc.) Kynde (talk) 11:20, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
The two sentences of the title text are unrelated. The first is not sarcasm, but is straightforward praise of Google's "dimensional analysis". Searching on "sqrt( 2 / (pi * (18600 / mile^2) * (80 / year) * 30 minutes) )" yields an answer of "139.379395 meters" with Google correctly doing all of the unit conversion for you. Wow, that really is cool! It should be noted when Google gained this capability, if we can find a source for that. The second sentence is a straightforward discussion of the limitations of the model, as the probability of having sex is not uniformly distributed throughout the day. The mom part is a joke because it applies to a specific individual, not simultaneously to the general population around you (unless it is "Moms Visit Campus Day"). There is no April Fool's joke here. Where does the 18,600 persons / square mile population density come from? Is it for a specific metropolitan area? Finally, what Randall is calling "dimensional analysis" is more commonly referred to as unit conversion. For physicists, at least, dimensional analysis refers to a more subtle and powerful tool where equations for phenomena can often be deduced (to within a scaling factor) purely by analyzing the units involved. Wikipedia's articles on "Dimensional analysis", "Units conversion by factor-label", "Drake equation", and "Fermi paradox" should all be linked. -- 108.162.212.217 12:26, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
