The Pie Problem: Growth and Ratios
Why does it seem life goes faster as you get older? There are several reasons, of course — a primary one being it always seems there’s more you need to do and less you want to do, as you get older and take on responsibilities. I know that the last 17 years, since my first child was born, has often felt like a runaway train. But there’s another reason — a set of problems I’ve been working on with my younger daughter a lot because the math is easy, but the concept is hard.
It’s all in the ratios. To give an example, a teacher I once spent a lot of time listening to would often pose this to his friends:
You’re around 50. That means you’ve been given 2600 weekends so far, and you have about 1500 weekends left (give or take). What did you do with the weekends you’ve already lived, and what do you plan on doing with the 1500 you have left?
The math is simple — what’s the average life expectancy, how many weekends are there in a year, etc. But the problem is really all about ratios. The older you get, the less percentage Continue reading
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