Becoming Addicted

[Scully]

I like the math, but I have been a member for about 1 1/2 months and I have 2 kilts. I want 2 more, a tank and a mid-weight Leatherneck. I like most others here have to put in the time at work to afford the aforementioned tank. I feel that it will be justified (for me) to spend that kind of money on clothing. I can see myself in a few years having maybe 6-8 kilts.

[Cherub]

I think a good rule of thumb is having only as many kilts as you will wear. If I have a kilt that stays in my closet 364 out of 365 days in a year then to me it would not be justifiable to own it (or buy it in the first place). Where each person draws that line is their own personal business, but even if it were 2 or 3 days out of a year I just couldn't justify it.

I wear p*nts a lot more than I do kilts, (as much as I wish I could have the freedom to be kilted more often) and I own... letsee... 4 pairs of dress pants, 2 pairs of khakis, 3 pairs of cargo pants, and about 4 or 5 pairs of shorts. What is that -- 14 or so? Therefore the number of kilts I own should definitely not surpass that.

In fact, now that I think about it, figuring out how many kilts a man should own should simply be a matter of a mathematical formula, right? If we were to approach the problem logically that is.

I'm not a mathematician, but let's see if I can figure this out.

Let P = # of pairs of pants owned
Let x = days per week pants are worn
Let t = time of 1 rotation cycle in days (e.g. 365 days)

dp = days spent wearing pants per cycle rotation
dk = days spent wearing kilts per cycle rotation

k = theoretical number of kilts that should be owned for optimal wear

(1a) x/7*t=dp ; (1b) [(7-x)/7]*t=dk

(2) k = dk*(p/dp)

Solve for k.

Theoretical example.

I own 15 pairs of pants that I wear 5 days a week (Mon - Fri) for work. Then I walk around kilted on the weekends. I'm working on a 1 year rotation cycle.

P=15
x=5
t=365

(1a) (5/7)*365=261 dp=261 : (1b) (2/7)*365=104 dk=104

(2) (15/261)*104 = 6

Therfore, I should have 6 kilts in my wardrobe for kicking around on weekends.

Does that make sense?

*Cherub backs slowly away from CDNSushi........*

[Macman]

Does that make sense?

That makes total sense, mathematically and economically. But I'm an accountant.

[Ian.MacAllan]

. . . Does that make sense?

For us who never wear pants, k=(dk*p)/0 which is indeterminate. I like it.

.

[CDNSushi]

There you go. So if your wife or anyone gives you grief for having too many kilts you can show her that it's permissible for you to have an indeterminate number of kilts.. hehe

Actually, at that point you would probably want to reverse the formula, using the number of kilts owned as a baseline to then figure out how many pairs of pants you should have in your wardrobe.

Then, using the same formula, you might end up with something like this:

Eg. I walk around kilted 24/7, I have no less than 40 kilts in my closet and I'd like to rotate through them at least once a year -- how many pairs of pants should I own if I wear a pair... oh, I dunno... Once a month?

Using p = dp * (k/dk): k=40 ; x = 0.25 (with 4 weeks in a month) ; t = 365

dk=[(6.75/7)*365]=352 ; dp=[(0.25/7)*365]=13

Therefore: using p=dp*(k/dk): p=13*(40/352)=1.5

Since you probably don't want to own 1.5 pairs of pants, to be on the safe side you may want to own 2 pairs. If it were me, I'd say a comfortable pair of jeans and a pair of black dress pants should do it!


Yeah, I know -- I am indeed ill. I always hated math when I was a kid... But there really is an austere beauty about it. There's a certain satisfying perfection when you solve a problem. Even in high school, when I finally figured out what the heck I was doing (took almost 3 years - lol) I rather enjoyed factoring polynomials. In university however, I was traumatized by calculus. I still remember a question from my uni calculus final exam to this day!

(Translated from French): Assume a cone of radius "r" and of length "l". If I start pouring beer into the cone from a pitcher, how long will the cone take to fill? guuuuuuuhhhh...

One day, I will yet master the calculus demon. It's one of the things I want to do in life before I die -- learn how to derive and integrate!