sox math

[gsh]

Socks are generally bought (by me at least) in packs of N, where N is usually 6 or 8. (Two socks being needed for a pair.) After some time goes by, the probability of a sock getting a hole is P, At this point the sock with a hole can be thrown away. The mate can be tossed, or saved, because eventually there will be another sock with a hole in it, and the odds are it won't be the same sock whose mate was thrown away. Someday I'll calculate the exact amount of time I need to keep the unmatched sock before a new match will be created, but I'm hungry now and I'm about to make myself a ham and cheese sandwich.

Comments

[melebeth]

You're sexy :)

[gsh]

one third x cubed plus five halves x squared plus RING x plus C. :)

The difference between a Mathematician and an Engineer.

[elkor.livejournal.com]

Just buy socks in the same style. Then it doesn't matter which ones develop holes, since you will only ever have either 1 odd sock, or an even number of pairs.

Plus it makes folding them a lot easier (I lay them out in a pile and then put them in the closet), and getting them (just grab two socks of the appropriate color).

[fortryll.livejournal.com]

Can ya let me know when you've figured it out?

Also, can you let me know how long one should hold on to a single sock that one cannot find the mate to, just in case the mate is ever discovered?

I, and the almost 30 socks in the bag in my room that are waiting word on their future, thank you.

Re: The difference between a Mathematician and an Engineer.

[gsh]

The problem is that even though I buy most of my socks at the same store, they don't have the same style six months later.

[gsh]

Thanks. So are you. Lets run away to mexico for a weekend, we can spend the days lying on the beach drinking rum based drinks, and spend the nights together talking math to each other. :)

[melebeth]

Oooh baby. You DO know how to make an invitation that's hard for a girl to refuse.

Re: The difference between a Mathematician and an Engineer.

[elkor.livejournal.com]

That's why you buy enough socks for 2 years at a time, and replace them wholesale every 2 years.

Re: The difference between a Mathematician and an Engineer.

[dwarfrage.livejournal.com]

That's why I buy and replace every 18 months or so.

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

If you wear pants no one will know you have mismatched socks! Though I suppose there is that awkward first time you undress in front of someone... not exactly the time you want them to be pointing and laughing, even if it's only at your socks.

Someone must have done it but I was thinking of creating an "Internet Clothes Dryer" site. People would send in a sock and I'd send back one chosen randomly from the pile. It's like what happens with real dryers, only with t3h internets!

[sappharia.livejournal.com]

Wear tall, thigh high 6" heeled boots while making a boy run around doing things he loves to hate, and the whole sock thing would be mute very quickly.

*grins evilly*

[gsh]

eep!

[mtnwlf.livejournal.com]

Eep all you want, I know its true. *EVIL LAUGHTER*

[dwildchil.livejournal.com]

I was with you right up until the ham. Can my sandwich just have cheese, and no meat? I have a pile of draakken's orphaned socks that lives on my dresser. I never seem to develop orphaned socks; I'm weird in other ways too, but I can never seem to bring myself to throw away the orphans. Cheese! I like cheese! -sM

[gsh]

Your sandwich can certainly be meat free, if that is what you want. I like cheese, but I also like meat.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I get about 30 socks at a time, all exactly alike, and never seem to lose them. Eventually, they'll all wear down enough to where I want to replace them, and I just chuck the whole lot and get another set. And, even if I lost one or two, no one, including me, would ever know.