Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Square Chickens per Lightyear

Matriculating through Physics 401 as an undergraduate, we were implored by professors and TA's to always show our work, and for Plank's sake, SHOW YOUR UNITS -- or your answer will not receive full credit.  The inside joke among us students studying together when referring to any physic problem solution was to give the answer in "Square Chickens per Light-Year".  Very funny inside joke, right?

With the price of crude oil retreating, the retail cost of gasoline in these parts reached a recent nadir of $1.98 per gallon.  After filling my tank on my way to do grocery shopping at Walmart, I realized that if I purchased a 10 pound bag of frozen chicken breasts, the price per pound of chicken is also $1.98 per pound.

Keeping track of my units while doing these errands, I put 1.98 dollars on each side of the equations and find that to my amazement, rather than square chickens per light-year, I solved the equations and find that the universe is in sync:

$1.98 chicken-pounds/gallon!


And all this time I'd been led to believe the answer to the Universe was actually 43.  Go figure.

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