DrApricus

…with a great deal of help from Trintavon (thanks for being a math nerd)

More works by me can be found here!

Item #: SCP-661-J

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: All attempts to neutralize, or even relatively mitigate SCP-661, since its manifestation have failed. This is furthermore challenged by the fact that no known forces or external anomalies have been found to be responsible for the anomaly.

Description: SCP-661-J is a reoccurring event in which any form of voting conducted by or amongst the O5 Command will inevitably result in a tie. As the council comprises exclusively 13 members without a tiebreaking figure, should a tie be reached, the matter at an impasse is denied by default.

In a vote amongst the O5 Command, all thirteen members have three voting options; yes, no, or the ability to abstain altogether. This denotes a total of 1,594,323 (3^13) outcomes. To determine the said number, one raises a (number of available options) to the power of b (total votes); in this case, a is 3, and b is 13. Of the listed outcomes, there are seven distinct scenarios in which a tie can be raised; one abstained vote alongside six yes and no, three abstains alongside five yes and no, five abstains alongside four yes and no, etc. until thirteen abstained votes with none in favor or against.

While each of these has several outcomes, to determine said values, one would use the equation w!/(x!*y!*z!) where; w = # of overseers, x = yes votes, y = no votes, and z = abstain votes. In all cases here, x and y should be identical values. They total to 212,941 respectively using the equation (13!/(6!x6!)) + (13!/(5!x3!x5!)) + (13!/(4!x5!x4!)) + (13!/(3!x7!x3!)) + (13!/(2!x9!x2!)) + (13!/11!) + (13!/13!).

To determine the likelihood of a natural tie therein, the total amount of tied outcomes (212,941) is divided by the total amount of outcomes (1,594,323), which gives the approximate percentage of a 13.35% likelihood of tying. A chart is listed below to show the exponential increase should multiple ties occur concurrently.

# in a row
Chance of occurrence

1
13.35%

2
1.78%

3
0.238%

4
0.0318%

5
0.00424%

6
0.000566%

7
0.0000756%

8
0.0000101%

Currently, the O5 Council has incurred thirty-six concurrent ties.

Addendum: Regarding updating water dispensers in grounded sites and miscellaneous facilities.

YAY
NAY
ABSTAIN

O5-1
O5-2
O5-3

O5-4
O5-5

O5-6

O5-7
O5-8

O5-9
O5-10

O5-11

O5-12

O5-13
O5-1: …

O5-3: …

O5-7: …

O5-2: …

O5-6: Oh for fuck's sake.

O5-1: Flip a coin?