#80/20: Significant digits

As I’m writing this, I’m listening to a song by Musiq Soulchild called 143. The fraction 80/20 is 4, which is half of eight, the sum of 143. The phrase “143” means I love you, which is also 8 letters long (hence the numbers). The ratio 80/20 is also a reference to a commonly, but often incorrectly cited, power law also known as Pareto’s Principle. The distribution underlying this law is also named after him. If you couldn’t tell, today was a numbers day. I’m in the middle of a book about algorithms, so all the numbers around me are becoming more distinct in patterns that I have been ignoring.

Really, I think numbers intimidated me. The abstract ideas I could always get behind, but when it came right down to calculations I made lots of mistakes. I didn’t feel at home in math until calculus, but after that I never pursued numbers any farther. They tried to find me in statistics, but I ran. Now I’m looking for them in places I never thought to find them. It’s something to pass the time:)