Don't piss off an engineer!

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2007-02-08 06:15pm

Anyone got a calculator?

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2007-02-08 07:08pm

What now? Randall gets the check returned and charged a late fee.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2007-02-08 09:22pm

Unless I'm mistaken, that's a check for $0.002

Of course I could be mistaken since I haven't taken any math courses in nearly 8 years.

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2007-02-08 09:30pm

No aerius. You're correct. That's a check for 2/10's of a cent.

muse · Post by **muse** » 2007-02-08 09:32pm

Which begs the question, how the heck does one end up with a bill for 0.2 cents?

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2007-02-08 09:38pm

Indeed it is (.2 cents). It's really not even clever. If he had cared enough to make a single expression that would resolve down to .002, rather than just adding zero, I'd appreciate it a whole lot more...

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2007-02-08 09:39pm

muse wrote:Which begs the question, how the heck does one end up with a bill for 0.2 cents?

Literally the company could simply think the said person owes them .02 from an earlier bill and sent him a letter stating such.

Though as for the check? One, the company recieveing it will dispose of it because they cannot make heads or tails and send another letter demanding their money with added late charges. Two, It's easier if you know the company is filled with bullshit to dig through your records and contest the claim. Most companies fold pretty nicely under such demands.

darthbob88 · Post by **darthbob88** » 2007-02-09 12:29am

muse wrote:Which begs the question, how the heck does one end up with a bill for 0.2 cents?

IIRC, this is from a complaint WRT Verizon; the guy was quoted that it'd cost .002 cents per kilobyte of data, but they charged him .002 dollars per kb. Apparently he lost the fight and was charged the full $.002. In reply, the OP happened.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-02-09 03:17am

Link

The issue that started it.

Dominus Atheos · Post by **Dominus Atheos** » 2007-02-09 03:34am

It was posted on here too.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2007-02-09 04:01pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Anyone got a calculator?

That wouldn't do me much good. I fail at math

darthbob88 · Post by **darthbob88** » 2007-02-09 04:18pm

The math of that check, with annotations. First is the $.002, which should be obvious. Second is the e^(i*pi) term; this is a special case of Euler's Formula, known as Euler's Identity, and it comes out to -1. The third term is the sum of all powers of (1/2)^n, starting with n=1; I was unable to find anything useful on this, but it sums to one, eventually. So the check reads .002 +1 + (-1), or $.002. Quod erat demonstratum.

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2007-02-09 09:49pm

darthbob88 wrote:IIRC, this is from a complaint WRT Verizon; the guy was quoted that it'd cost .002 cents per kilobyte of data, but they charged him .002 dollars per kb. Apparently he lost the fight and was charged the full $.002. In reply, the OP happened.

Of course, the xkcd picture (check from Randall Munroe) is a joke in response to hearing about the Verizon .002 we-say-cents-but-mean-dollars thing, and said incident with Verizon happened to someone else.

(And, apparently, he writes checks about as often as I do... almost never...)

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2007-02-09 10:38pm

don't piss off the bank manager who tells the smart ass engineer that his check is not negotiable because the legal line is not valid.

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Don't piss off an engineer!

Don't piss off an engineer!

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