Spike Spiegel
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- Feb 12, 2009
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Trying to "create" an equation. And failing miserably.
I've been working on a science fiction story for a ridiculously long amount of time, and I'm trying to nail down the properties of a particular piece of fictional technology. I'd like to do this as accurately as I can, to the point where an equation or two can describe it.
I'm trying to show that as the distance from a central point increases, the probability of accurately targeting a second point decreases. Naturally I looked at the inverse-square law. Unfortunately, I'm not too great with math beyond basic algebra and geometry.
What I want is for the probability to be 100% (or 1.00) when the target point is the same as the central point (radius = 0), then decrease from there, somehow according to the inverse-square law. I also want to be able to show that some other factor can multiply this probability (increasing the range at which the second point can be reliably targeted).
I'm not asking anyone to do the work for me, but I described it so that someone can hopefully point me in the right direction. Can one of you resident geniuses give me some tips, or tell me what I should be studying so I can figure this out?
I've been working on a science fiction story for a ridiculously long amount of time, and I'm trying to nail down the properties of a particular piece of fictional technology. I'd like to do this as accurately as I can, to the point where an equation or two can describe it.
I'm trying to show that as the distance from a central point increases, the probability of accurately targeting a second point decreases. Naturally I looked at the inverse-square law. Unfortunately, I'm not too great with math beyond basic algebra and geometry.
What I want is for the probability to be 100% (or 1.00) when the target point is the same as the central point (radius = 0), then decrease from there, somehow according to the inverse-square law. I also want to be able to show that some other factor can multiply this probability (increasing the range at which the second point can be reliably targeted).
I'm not asking anyone to do the work for me, but I described it so that someone can hopefully point me in the right direction. Can one of you resident geniuses give me some tips, or tell me what I should be studying so I can figure this out?