Murphy's Law

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Murphy's Law
URBAN MYTH OR SCIENTIFIC FACT?
By DAVID HILL
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INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND
• EXAMPLES
• WHERES THE MATHS?
• CONCLUDE

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BACKGROUND

• Major Edward A. Murphy, Jr

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Examples

• If anything can go wrong, it will.
• If a location can lie in an awkward part of the
  map, it will.
• A slice of buttered toast, when dropped, will
  always land butter-side down.
• The other line always moves faster.
• If odd socks can be created, they will be.
• If rope can become knotted, it will do.

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More Examples

• The clock in the teacher's room will be wrong.
• Disaster will occur when visitors are in the
  room.
• A subject interesting to the teacher will bore
  students.
• The time a teacher takes in explaining is
  inversely proportional to the information
  retained by students.

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And More Examples

• The problem child will be a school board member's
  son.
• Clocks will run more quickly during free time.
• On a test day, at least 15 of the class will be
  absent.
• Students who are doing better are credited with
  working harder. If children start to do poorly,
  the teacher will be blamed.

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Murphy's Law
WHERE IS THE MATHS?
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Problem 1 Maps

• A 2b(2nm-4b)
• P A/mn
• 2b(2/m1/n-4b/mn)
• r b/n 1/10
• If m n, P 52
• Aspect Ratio K m/n 1.4
• P(4/K)2r-(8/K)r2
• If m gt n, K 1.4, r 1/10
• Then P 43

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Problem 2 Toast

• Lurpak Tumbling Toast Test
• Experiment 1 Buttered toast
• 9821 drops, 6101 butter-side-down 62
• Experiment 2 Toast with letter B
• 9748 drops, 5663 B-side-down 58
• Experiment 3 Buttered toast from 2.5m
• 2038 drops, 953 butter-side-down 47

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The Formula?

• ((UCI) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)).
• U - Urgency
• I - Importance
• C Complexity
• S - Skill
• F - Frequency
• A - Aggravation was set at 0.7
• http//www.breakingnewsblog.com/discoveries/murphy
  s_law_calculator.php

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Other proofs

• Queues Basic probability
• Odd socks Combinatorics
• Knotted Rope Topology

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Conclusion
X
"UNLUCKY"
X
"Psychological"
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Conclusion
X
"UNLUCKY"
X
"Psychological"

• The Creator is subtle, but he is not malicious
  Albert Einstein