A little math help? please

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Casey B

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OK ST'ers. Another thinker for ya.



Take a look at the website below for the US National Debt clock. It updates on every visit or refresh.



Now try computing the national debt per person. What happens? Why can you not get the number that seems to be a simple division? How do you get around it? :unsure:



I have to find a formula for this because it increases every time. Sure you can divide with the numbers given but they constantly change. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
 
I'm sure the number changing is probably a percentage of the previous number over some period of time. You would have to know that percentage for the rate of change. Once you have that number.......Ok, my head hurts now.[Broken External Image]:
 
A simple division results in a very close answer. If you are expecting it to be exact, then you are out of luck. Besides, all the Fed money figures are fictitious anyway. Virtually meaningless to the common citizen.
 
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Actually it gives the rate of change they are probably useing on the site....1.54 billion / day, but the population also changes, but if you had that rate of change......crap....my head again[Broken External Image]:
 
Ok...there's a link to the population clock that says the net population change is 1 person every 10 seconds...........why oh why have you done this to me:wacko:
 
You need to find the rate of change of the money, divided by the rate of change of the population. You also need to add it to the current amounts of people and money. So, [current debt + (change in debt / time)] / [current population + (change in population / time)]. I don't know if that's exactly what you're looking for, but that should be the correct "forumla"
 
Ok...this is the last thing I'm going to say about this one (because my head is about to explode). Looks like the rate the deficit is changing using 1.54 bil/day is 17824 dollars / sec and the population is changing at .1 person / sec. you still need a base number to start with which I guess you can get at any point from the site. Then it can be calculated. (Or you can email the guy and ask him what the formula is). I'm going to take a nap now....and some of tracnblack's meds.
 
Sure...its just that easy for an engineering student...lol All i do is run a nuclear plant. Now if you want to know the effect moderator temperature changes have on reactivity in a Westing House reactor, then I'm your man........lol
 
Lol, Chet, if I had some specs on the reactor, I could probably tell ya.





edit: Oh yeah, insn't Westinghouse one word? :lol:
 
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Seems to me that if you can find the rate of change for the population (rcP), and the rate of change for the national debt (rcD) and they were both specified in the same time units, say seconds, then along the lines what JeffC is saying, if you also have some "known" values for population (PT0) and debt (DT0) at some prior point in time (T0) then the debt per person at some time in the future (Tn), where Tn > T0 would be:



= ( DT0 + (Tn - T0) * rcD) / ( PT0 + (Tn - T0) * rcP )



I think that's right.



But of course, that's simplistic as it assumes a constant rate of change for both population and debt.



TJR
 
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Don't forget to factor in the fluctions of the value of the Dollar.... If the value of the Dollar goes down, our debt goes up and vice versa.



Im not even sure there is $8 trillion in currency in America, now, worldwide, there might be that value of Dollars. Afterall, nearly (or is it more?) 2/3 of the American Dollars produced are found outside these borders. Now if we could just get Kim Jong Ill to stop making the SuperDollar and decreasing the value of the Dollar...we'd probably be better off, literaly.
 
I appreciate everyone's help. This is an assignment for my college algebra class. NOT my favorite subject



 
Interesting, to say the least where this post has gone. The fact of the matter is, most of the people in this country don't make enough to pay their share, if they had to!!!!??:eek:
 
C, according to the site's "some answers" page, the value of the debt is updated regularly based on values from the US Treasury department, and the population clock is adjusted regularly based on info from the Census Department. Although TJR's algorithm is correct if all the values are known and are assumed to be constant, neither of these are truly the case--so it can't be broken down into a simple equation. The author extrapolates data from periodically adjusted values, which works fine for a short-term estimate like he is doing, but this cannot be used for any longer-term equation.
 
Right, Bill V, like I said...too many assumptions go into the formula I gave for it to be meaningfully accurate. It's correct, just not very valuable. Which is the way my wife describes my point of view or opinion whenever she concedes me to be correct in an argument.



TJR
 
I agree Bill V. It also states that even though the debt is increasing, sometimes it may be lower than before. There is no constant increase.
 

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