Chris, You are making my point.
Thanks. Harry ******************************************** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 Tel: 818 352-4141 -- Fax: 818 353-2242 http://haledward.home.comcast.net ******************************************** -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 8:09 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Futurework] Math 101 for Georgists (was Re: Bush's impossible problem of same-sex marriage) Harry Pollard wrote: > The 'half of all marriages ending in divorce' isn't so. > > I've forgotten the real figures but that doesn't matter. I'll just > example some. > > Say their are 40 million marriages. Also, let's say that this year > there are 100,000 marriages and 50,000 divorces. This leads to the > idea that half the marriages end in divorce. But, of course, it's > 50,000 divorces out of 40 million. If, in a country of 8 million people, this year there are 125,000 births and 100,000 deaths, does that mean that 20% of humans are immortal, or that most humans are immortal (because it's only 100,000 deaths out of 8 million) ? Or perhaps does it mean that 0% of humans are immortal, because adding up the annual number of deaths over 80 years (avg. lifespan) gives 100% of the population ? > And at the end of the year, the marriage total has increased by 50,000. What about the marriages that were "divorced" by death ? If 50,000 marriages were divorced by lawyers, and 50,000 marriages were "divorced" by death, then the marriage total (with 100,000 new marriages) has increased by _0_, and half the marriages end in divorce [assuming the same number of new marriages in the past]. Chris --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.541 / Virus Database: 335 - Release Date: 11/14/2003 _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
