If you were to estimate how many full words you have written up until your last word here, what would that be?

Posted by: Consciousmess on 01 May 2012

Hi all,

 

And I am fascinated here, so I will stress that it has to be in English (or recognised in the English language) and any word that is created from combining two will be counted as one.  For instance "do not" would be two and "don't" would be one as I want to control as many extraneous variables as possible......

 

So, for me, I would give (including my name for which I will sign this message):

 

5259614

 

Jon

Posted on: 01 May 2012 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by Consciousmess:

 

 

And I am fascinated here,

What?

Posted on: 01 May 2012 by Consciousmess
Your response makes me: 5259619 Jon
Posted on: 01 May 2012 by fatcat
Originally Posted by Consciousmess:
Your response makes me: 5259619 Jon

DOH

 

Noticed you're not including strings of numbers. I'll have to do a recalculation.

Posted on: 01 May 2012 by BigH47

I guess you used most of those words in the title of this and your other  threads.

 

If I may say so another waste of bandwidth it is too.

Posted on: 01 May 2012 by Consciousmess
Hi... Unfortunately it is not a waste of bandwidth, as there is a reason for me starting this thread. This reason would be revealed and yes it is fascinating - not just to me, but suspect to others! 5259657 Jon
Posted on: 02 May 2012 by Geoff P

How the f**K ( does that count as a full word?) did you calculate 5259657. Have you been using a counter since the day you started writing?

 

NO WAIT....I don't want to know and get your reason out now so we can consign this where it needs to go

Posted on: 02 May 2012 by tonym

Time hangs heavy in some people's hands...

Posted on: 02 May 2012 by Maxi Me

It does get the brain working at approximations though.

A question I always remember from my first year doing physics at university was "how many bricks are there in Birmingham?"

Posted on: 02 May 2012 by GraemeH
Originally Posted by Maxi Me:

It does get the brain working at approximations though.

A question I always remember from my first year doing physics at university was "how many bricks are there in Birmingham?"

Are you sure it was 'bricks' ?

Posted on: 02 May 2012 by Consciousmess
The problem is, no one is giving me estimates so I am unable to explain why yet!! 5259675 Jon
Posted on: 02 May 2012 by Don Atkinson

Jon,

 

Are you asking for estimates of how many words someone has written since they were born. Or how many words have they written on this Naim Forum.

 

Either way, splitting hairs over "do not" and "don't" is a bit pathetic.

 

Cheers

 

Don

Posted on: 02 May 2012 by Maxi Me

Graeme

 

No, it's too long ago to be sure of anythhing that happened at Uni!

For the record (as I recall) the class came up with anything between 10 ^ 9 and 10 ^ 12. The only bit of data that I thought I knew to work from was the population of 2 x 10 ^ 6. Had to then guesstimate how many bricks per person. How many bricks are there in a wall anyway?

 

@Consciousmess

 

OK - Let's take up the challenge. I did a few 1,500 word essays for O' Level English Literature in the late 80's and a recent 15,000 word dissertation for my MBA. This gives me a ballpark to start from. Written stuff isn't my strength so I prefer to speak, use maths, draw diagrams or generally communicate without writing. However, business norms dictate that I have to write.

The distinction between abbreviated words is largely meaningless, the other estimation errors will overwhelm the difference.

So: A few hundred words per day since I was 16 = 300 x (41-16) x 350 [don't write everyday]  gives me 2.6 x 10 ^ 6, roughly half of your score, but same order of magnitude.

 

Fun question.

 

ps Given the word count on this post is 200, I may be under estimating.

 

 

 

Posted on: 02 May 2012 by Consciousmess
Maxi Me, That is an effective way to estimate your answer and you are right sometimes making such calculations is fun as we end up with figures that can be used comparatively.... Such as there are more potential chess games (completed) than there are particles in the observable universe, which I think is 10 ^ 80. Now, quite clearly, in the couple of days since I started this thread no one has estimated and as time continues on, I am led to suspect the likelihood of this becomes less. Therefore what I wanted to show couldn't be shown!! You see, I could choose any variable and ask people to estimate, so I chose number of words written as by definition that encompasses everyone on this forum. But, because it is difficult to be precise (yes I tried to add some lighthearted irony), I was curious about social influence and that is a powerful phenomenon..... For instance, if you present a jar of rice to a group of people and ask them to estimate the number of grains and to write the score down individually on the same piece of paper, you can be sure that whatever number is written down first will influence all the other estimates. You can do this so easily with two separate groups - in one group, put a low number down to start them off and in the other group, put a large number down to start them off.... And you will clearly have mean scores that are low and high (comparing the groups) illustrating social influence. Now taking this phenomenon a step further, it doesn't take much thought to see that perception of quality is never tainted by others' public thoughts. This also includes how we perceive attraction levels in other people. Just a thought. Jon
Posted on: 03 May 2012 by Gale 401
Originally Posted by Consciousmess:
The problem is, no one is giving me estimates so I am unable to explain why yet!! 5259675 Jon

Jon,

 Above some one ,Maxi Me gave you a number so you could explain.

I dont know what medication/wine/beer/spirits or Do me goods you are on?

You have not explained anything imo.

Are you ok man?

If you need help you only have to ask?

Please don't do anything stupid.

Stu.


Posted on: 04 May 2012 by Consciousmess

I suggest you read my last post, Stu.

 

Jon

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by rjstaines
 
Originally Posted by Maxi Me:

It does get the brain working at approximations though.

A question I always remember from my first year doing physics at university was "how many bricks are there in Birmingham?"

Are you sure it was 'bricks' ?

 

..so how many bricks are there in Birmingham ?

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by Officer DBL

None - because the C, K and S are missing

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by rjstaines