I think I see the problem. Superscripts didn't work out very well. The formula is "2 to the power of N minus N minus 1." "N" is the number of people in your group.
Sometimes English is the way to go... Chris --- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology Bowen Island, BC, Canada http://www.chriscorrigan.com [email protected] > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris > Corrigan > Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 3:12 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: I just discovered Reed's Law > > Jaime wrote: > > > Hi Chris!!! > > > > Congratulations for a job well done. I always face > > claims about the small number of participants for > > prospective OS mettings in Bolivia. Reed's Law will be > > an excellent argument to show possibilities. However, > > I can not replicate the formula in order to confirm > > your findings for 12 people and 4083 possible groups. > > Could you please explain in a more detailed way the > > formula for me? > > > > The way I figure it, it's 212-12-1. So that's 2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2 > which is 4096. 4096-12=4084. 4084-1=4083. > > That's how I did it anyway. That gives you all the possible > combinations of groups of more than two. Of course in OST, often groups > of one meet, so that number is a little low. I'm no math genius, but > any way you cut it, the numbers are pretty impressive. A group of 32 > yields a number close to 22 billion, which is something like four times > the population of the earth. Not that you can make any comparisons > directly, but as a way of illustrating the scale of possibilities, to be > able to walk around a room of 32 and say "within this circle, the number > ways of organizing ourselves dwarf the population of humans on the > earth" is a pretty compelling introduction to the potential of > potential. I'm going try the line this weekend, with a group of 32. > > > By the way, in the battle or sluggish against GM > > (genetically modified) seeds and organisms, your > > finding is very important. > > > > I thought so too. The world is a strange place. > > > Warm regards from Bolivia to everybody > > > > Right back at you. > > Chris > > --- > CHRIS CORRIGAN > Consultation - Facilitation > Open Space Technology > > Bowen Island, BC, Canada > http://www.chriscorrigan.com > [email protected] > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
