Benign musings

Welcome to Wednesday!
Sorry about yesterday's posting. I looked back at it and realized it was slightly grumpy. I'll try and do better today. :)

So I was thinking about math just now. Why, you ask? Is it because I like math?
AAAAAHAHAHAHAHA.
*ahem*
No, it is not because I like math.
It's because of television.
Let me explain.
There's this show I like called How I Met Your Mother. It's exceptionally funny. The kind of funny that makes you want to watch it over and over, even when you know the episode by heart and don't necessarily have to be sitting in the same room to know what's going on.
But like most TV shows nowadays the characters are all relatively promiscuous. (That makes me sound SO old, doesn't it? And like I should be wearing a bun and a broom skirt? But it's totally true. And I happen to wear ankle socks and jeans, thank you very much.)
What was I saying? Oh, math.
So one of the characters is named Barney and he is one of those guys that loves to sleep with a girl once and then never see her again. In one episode he wants this one specific girl to be his 200th conquest. (TWO HUNDRED!! SICK!)
So maybe it's my slightly nerdy nature or the fact that I used to volunteer in a crisis pregnancy center but every time I start thinking about people sleeping around all I can think about are combinations.
Do you remember those? They date back to ancient times when the ancient math people got tired of messing about with numbers and started throwing in letters and other odd symbols. Only this time they said, "Let's make math exciting! Ah hah!! See those?? Exclamation points! That's what math needs! Excitement!"
I don't even remember how they work, but combinations use exclamation points and have to do with calculating enormous numbers based on multiplication.
I've lost you haven't I?
See, I start thinking about Barney and his 200 women. Then I start thinking about those women. If each woman slept with only 1 other man, then Barney has been exposed to 400 people and any possible STDs (and the unholy amount of urinary tract infections these women would be getting - HUGE ouch) with which they might be infected. Now if a woman is open to having a one night stand with a person such as Barney, how likely is it that she's only slept with only one other person?
Enter the exciting math! (Now, like I said, I don't quite remember this stuff. I might be wrong. But I think this is one application.) You can use the factorials (thanks Cheryl!) to calculate just how many STDs Barney would have, or perhaps the probability of which disease he might get from which girl. It's quite an interesting project. Now before you go getting the idea that I actually sit there and DO this kind of thing, let me assure you that I don't. My mind does not automatically perform such complex maneuvers. But it's just fascinating to think about, isn't it? (You're supposed to nod here.)
My brain cannot shut off this fun distraction. It happens when I watch Friends, the Office, How I Met Your Mother, LOST, etc. It doesn't make the show any less enjoyable. So. I guess maybe my calculus professor was correct in telling me that someday I would find myself using calculus in places I didn't expect.
I hate that.