{"product_id":"the-arithmetic-of-life-and-death-isbn-9780345426451","title":"The Arithmetic of Life and Death","description":"Whether you realize it or not, numbers are everywhere--and integral to almost every facet of your life . . . from your next raise in pay to the inevitable rise of inflation, your weekly family budget to your end of the national debt. And as George Shaffner amazingly reveals, there are discerning answers (and a great measure of comfort) in numbers. In The Arithmetic of Life, he applies the basic principles of mathematics--addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division--to some of the most profound and just plain puzzling questions of our time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIlluminated with anecdotes, humor, and insight, each chapter explains a unique part of life that can be understood only through the magic of numbers. Whether it's an unconventional theory on why more things go wrong than right, a simple calculation of how much it will cost you to smoke for a lifetime, why crime (accumulatively) doesn't pay, or a glimpse into the probability of life after death, this enlightening and lucidly reasoned book will forever change the way you think about numbers--and the world around you.\"AN APPEALING MIX OF COMMON SENSE AND SOLID REASONING . . . Written in lively style, with sly wit . . . Shines light into several interesting corners of everyday life, often with surprising results--and the numbers don't lie.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Kirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Shaffner's writing is . . . clever and clear. . . . It's highly probable that many readers will learn from it.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Publishers Weekly\u003cb\u003eGeorge Shaffner\u003c\/b\u003e has worked in the computer industry for twenty years, most recently as CEO or COO of three international computer companies. He is the father of three children, who are all math refugees.CHAPTER\u003cbr\u003e1\u003cbr\u003eThe Probability That\u003cbr\u003eYou Would Be You\u003cbr\u003e\"What is the odds so long as the fire\u003cbr\u003eof soul is kindled . . .\"\u003cbr\u003e--CHARLES DICKENS\u003cbr\u003eSince some six billion people now occupy planet Earth, one could conclude\u003cbr\u003ethat human life is as common as dirt in Denmark. There is, however, some\u003cbr\u003eevidence to the contrary. Gwendolyn Sharpe, anthropology student, and\u003cbr\u003edaughter of a prominent Northwestern personality, is a good example.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike every human being, Gwendolyn is a construction\u003cbr\u003eof forty-six chromosomes. Twenty-three came from her mother, Cecilia, and\u003cbr\u003ethe other twenty-three came from her estranged father. Each of her parents\u003cbr\u003ehad forty-six chromosomes from which to choose, nicely organized in\u003cbr\u003etwenty-three pairs. Through the miracle of natural selection, either one\u003cbr\u003eof each chromosome pair from each of her parents could have been chosen\u003cbr\u003efor production. The resulting twenty-three chromosomes from each parent\u003cbr\u003ewere then paired to make Gwendolyn's forty-six.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe odds that Gwen would get the exact twenty-three chromosomes that she\u003cbr\u003ereceived from her mother were one-half times one-half times one-half times\u003cbr\u003eone-half, a total of twenty-three times, or .5 to the twenty-third power.\u003cbr\u003eThat means that the probability that Cecilia would give Gwendolyn the\u003cbr\u003etwenty-three chromosomes she got was about one in ten million\u003cbr\u003e(10,000,000), which was less likely than winning the state lottery (about\u003cbr\u003eone in seven million in Washington, although the odds are longer in some\u003cbr\u003estates).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe odds that Gwen would get the twenty-three chromosomes she got from her\u003cbr\u003efather were also about one\u003cbr\u003ein ten million. So, the probability that Gwendolyn would be Gwendolyn was\u003cbr\u003eabout one in 100 trillion (one in 100,000,000,000,000). On any given day,\u003cbr\u003ea win in the Washington state lottery would be around fourteen million\u003cbr\u003etimes more likely than a Gwendolyn Sharpe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut that assumes the existence, union, and productive sex lives of Gwen's\u003cbr\u003emother and father. Gwendolyn's parents met at a small Pacific Northwest\u003cbr\u003euniversity with a student population of 1,000 men and 1,000 women. Like so\u003cbr\u003emany young women back then, Gwen's mother hoped to meet and marry the man\u003cbr\u003eof her dreams before leaving college with a degree in accounting. Like so\u003cbr\u003emany young men back then, Gwendolyn's father planned to practice a few\u003cbr\u003eof the more physical rituals of marriage throughout the\u003cbr\u003esix years it would take him to obtain an undergraduate de-\u003cbr\u003egree in political science. Correctly assuming, however, that Gwendolyn's\u003cbr\u003emother would inevitably prevail, the maximum probability of the productive\u003cbr\u003eunion of her parents was a one-in-a-thousand long shot, which lengthened\u003cbr\u003ethe odds of Gwendolyn's existence to about one in 100 quadrillion (1 in\u003cbr\u003e100,000,000,000,000,000).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHowever, the odds of Gwendolyn's mother's being her mother were at least\u003cbr\u003eone in 100 quadrillion, too. The probability that her father would be her\u003cbr\u003efather was the same. So the odds of Gwendolyn's being Gwendolyn were\u003cbr\u003ecloser to one in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,\u003cbr\u003e000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. But that figure excludes\u003cbr\u003econsideration that either parent might have been infertile, that either\u003cbr\u003emight have been killed before conception, or that they might have divorced\u003cbr\u003ebefore the moment of magic that produced Gwendolyn or any of her brothers.\u003cbr\u003eNor has there been any inclusion of the extreme unlikelihood of the\u003cbr\u003eexistence of Cecilia's parents, who were from Yakima and Chewelah, or her\u003cbr\u003ehusband's parents, or their parents, or their parents, ad infinitum.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNetting all of this down to scientific terms, the odds that Gwendolyn\u003cbr\u003ewould be Gwendolyn were less than one in a jillion gazillion. The same is\u003cbr\u003etrue for each of us. Against such long odds, every life is a miracle of\u003cbr\u003eimmeasurable\u003cbr\u003eproportion, courtesy of nature. Thus, the existence of so many billions of\u003cbr\u003epeople is not evidence of the commonness of life but a testament to the\u003cbr\u003einfinite scale of nature's benevolence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcceptance of such an improbable gift is not without obligation. An annual\u003cbr\u003edonation to the National Wildlife Fund is sweet, but the gift of life\u003cbr\u003erequires payment in kind. In order to fairly compensate nature for her\u003cbr\u003egenerosity, each of us must help others to enjoy the gift, we must never\u003cbr\u003eharm or take the gift from another, and we must each live our own life to\u003cbr\u003eits fullest extent, despite the inevitable bumps in the road.","brand":"Ballantine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300204663013,"sku":"NP9780345426451","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345426451.jpg?v=1767738126","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-arithmetic-of-life-and-death-isbn-9780345426451","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}