way way off topic

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

On Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:20:07 -0700
Gary Kline <kline at thought.org> wrote:

> 
> apologies up front for this math type quandary. I had it in a std C
> program, but 3+ hours of grepping havent found it.  I would have bet
> my last cent that I had a summary Somewhere, but cant find that
> either.
> 
> here is the problem as best I can remember it.
> 
> 
> 	let's say that john is 8 and his older friend, jim, is 22.  
> 	how much older is exact percentage terms is jim?
> 
> to find the answer I had to find the relative difference {22 - 8} and
> then do something with the difference.  this isn't any kind of trick
> or "advanced-cognition"; I just thought it was clever [and exact].
> it obviously works for finding the abs() results in subtraction.
> it's something I found on the web and swipes and save the prose
> discussion.  BZZT: Lost, :-(
> 
It seems that I am also lost. What should abs() do here?

I would multiply the age of john and the difference with 100 and then
divide the result to get the percentage.

Or did I get lost here?

> if this seems dumb, I plead guilty!
> 
> im asking here because -questions is the sharpest list on the net.
> 

Are you sure?

Erich