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Lentil convexity: Difference between revisions
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In ordinary times, our lentil-buying habits are regular: hippies and vegans buy a lot of lentils, and everyone else buys none. Okay, ''almost'' none. The [[Reasonable man|person on the Clapham Omnibus]] might have ''one'' tin, at the back of the cupboard, that someone got in a weak moment years ago, just in case of unexpected apocalypse or visit from long-lost, vegan, cousin from Australia. | In ordinary times, our lentil-buying habits are regular: hippies and vegans buy a lot of lentils, and everyone else buys none. Okay, ''almost'' none. The [[Reasonable man|person on the Clapham Omnibus]] might have ''one'' tin, at the back of the cupboard, that someone got in a weak moment years ago, just in case of unexpected apocalypse or visit from long-lost, vegan, cousin from Australia. | ||
But the peacetime lentil-buying motivations | But the peacetime lentil-buying motivations ''within'' the community are ''unrelated''. Its overall appetite for tinned lentils is, within a tight range, predictable and the lentil-acquiring proclivities of each individual in the community are independent: that is to say, ''my'' lentil acquisition does not greatly influence, and is not especially swayed by, ''yours''. | ||
National weekly lentil purchases therefore usually cleave to a [[normal distribution]]. A small part of the population (say 0.5% — the hippies) may buy 8, 9 or 10 tins. A larger part (say 4.5% — vegans, health-food fanatics etc.) may buy one or two, and the remaining 95% will buy very few (let’s say on average 0.1 tin each: one tin between ten, which is probably generous). Since lentil buyers’ decisions are unconnected — that each lentil tin acquisition is an ''independent'' event<ref>BUT IS IT. I don’t want to spoil the punchline but HOLD THAT THOUGHT.</ref> — it all tends to even out, within a range. Each of these numbers will fluctuate, week to week, but in the same week that your hippie stocks up extra for his bom shankar summer solstice druid’s convention cauldron ''partay'', your vegan might skip a tin, and your 95% who hardly ever buy lentils make little difference to the acquisition rate in any weather. | National weekly lentil purchases therefore usually cleave to a [[normal distribution]]. A small part of the population (say 0.5% — the hippies) may buy 8, 9 or 10 tins. A larger part (say 4.5% — vegans, health-food fanatics etc.) may buy one or two, and the remaining 95% will buy very few (let’s say on average 0.1 tin each: one tin between ten, which is probably generous). Since lentil buyers’ decisions are unconnected — that each lentil tin acquisition is an ''independent'' event<ref>BUT IS IT. I don’t want to spoil the punchline but HOLD THAT THOUGHT.</ref> — it all tends to even out, within a range. Each of these numbers will fluctuate, week to week, but in the same week that your hippie stocks up extra for his bom shankar summer solstice druid’s convention cauldron ''partay'', your vegan might skip a tin, and your 95% who hardly ever buy lentils make little difference to the acquisition rate in any weather. | ||