From: gisle@ifi.uio.no (Gisle Hannemyr)
Subject: PV equation
Organization: gisle@ifi.uio.no
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 21:28:17 GMT
Originator: gisle@gyda.ifi.uio.no


[[ The story so far: ph36@unixg.ubc.ca (Richard Nistuk) has come across
   a really weird equatuion in "Dianetics", and want somebody to explain
   it to him.  The equation is:

                   PV=I*D^x

   and we later learn that:
      PV = potential value of an individual or group
      I  = intelligence (presumably IQ)
      D  = the "Dynamic".  This is a number between 1 and 4
           indicating where the individual are within 4 "dynamics".
      x  = the magnitude on which the person is surviving on the
           dynamic, it is a number between 1 and 10

   Mr. Nistuk's basic question is "How do you apply the equation?",
   to which Mr. Hardman gives the snappy answer "Insert the known
   factors and use standard algebra".  This doesn't seem to satisfy
   Mr. Niestuk, who keeps bringing up a strange thing called "units".
   Now -- let's return to the discussion...]]

Bill:
>>> Re-read the chapter.  It's self-explanitory.
Richard:
>> No its not.  Nowhere in part 1 of "Dianetics" is there a
>> discussion of the units.  If anybody knows, please tell me!
Bill:
> How many dynamics were discussed in the first chapter?
> How does society measure intellegence?
> To keep it simple for you, try using units of 1 to 10 [[for x?]].
Bill:
> The unit [[of the Dynamic]] is between 1 and 4.

Eh, Bill, I think you've missed something really basic somewhere
along the line.  The word "unit", you see, is short for "unit
of measurement", and is usually expressed in terms such as 
"seconds","kilos" "meters", "volts" or whatever.  Numbers that
doesn't have units, such as "1", "4" and "10" is referred to as
"unitless".

Units play a fairly significant part in standard algebra, where the
SI (Systeme International d'Unites) devised to keep the units used
in equations consistent.

For example, the equation for speed is

                     s = At
    where
           meaning            unit
       ---------------------------------------
       s = speed              1 meter/second
       A = accelaration       1 meter * second^-2
       t = time               1 second

     now if we want to compute the speed of an object beeing
     accelarated by earth's gravity (9.8 ms^-2) in vacuum
     in 10 seconds we get:

     s = 9.8 ms^-2 * 10 s = 98 ms^-1 = 98 meter/second

Please note that the algebra not only involved the quantities,
but also the units, and that the unit of the answer became
meter/second (meters per. second), which is a unit of measurement
for speed.

For those of you out there who did not sleep through your basic
education, sorry about this long-winded explanation of some very basic
principles.

Richard Nistuk's great joke, which Bill Hardman so far has failed to
get, it that the LRH equation appears to be constructed without the
slightest understanding of the basic rules of algebra.  You can of
course fiddle the quantities any way you like (by picking a convenient
range for "x" or whatever), but real algebra requires the units to
compute to equality as well, and as the formula is given, it just
doesn't compute.

I'll conclude with Mr. Nistuk's absolute prizeless attempt to compute
the equation.  For those out there who study Scientologist culture,
note that Mr. Hardman's only response is a feeble attempt at a
personal attack and the standard cop-out at the end.


Richard:
>> I want to find my PV.  O.K. since money is so important to the CoS
>> (see my next post!) PV must be in units of the American dollar.  Now
>> my potential income next term from my student loan is about
>> $2500.00 (US) and from my part time job is about $700.00 US.  So
>> my PV must be  $3200.00.
Bill:
> I can see that you will never make it in the private sector.  It is
> obvious that you were asleep during your high school education.
Richard:
>> Now lets see if the equation gets the same value.
>>
>> I is my intelligence,  Hmmm, this must refer to I.Q. score!
>> My I.Q. is about average, I suppose, so I=125 I.Q. points.
>>
>> D is my dynamic.  This refers to where I am within the four
>> dynamics(TM), I guess.  Well I, as an individual, would like to
>> see mankind survive, and sure, I'd even like to see all the little
>> symbiotes survive.  So... I guess in my case D=4, no units are ever
>> mentioned, so it must be unitless.
>> x, according to Bill, is magnitude on which the person is
>> surviving on the dynamic.  Oh!  'x' must be unitless, since
>> it is a power and not multiplied by any constant.  Hey!
>> It must be a probability(quite a leap I realise, but I'm grasping
>> here)!  Well I'm alive, so the magnitude of the probability
>> that I'm surviving is 1... x=1
>> ok here we go:
>>
>>      PV = I*D^x
>>         = (125 I.Q. points)*(4)^1
>>      PV = (500 I.Q. points)
>>
>> I estimated my PV to be $3200.00  the "equation" was WAY off.  The
>> units were even wrong ([$]!=I.Q. points)
>>
>>      It seems like this theory needs a lot of work!!!
Bill:
> Not as much as you do.
Richard:
>> O.K. help me out here, Bill, explain the words!!!
Bill:
> It's not worth my time.


I final question:

Bill, why it is worth your time entering all these discussions, only
to bail out every time you meet some real opposition?  You seem to
have a more imaginative range of excuses (the "out-gradient" was the
best so far) than the cheese salesman in the Monty Phyton "Cheese
Shop" skit!
--
Meta-disclaimer: A society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers.
 
- gisle hannemyr  (Norsk Regnesentral)
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