Originally Posted by RAZD
Hey Bex and Jeanie,

Quote
Hi Jeanie,
Like yourself, I struggle with the type of math that CTD and RAZD discuss on here and in all serious, it's over my head. However, because of this, I cannot in all honesty state who in this area is correct and who isn't.....
I don't really want to put anyone on a spot, and I appreciate both of your fair mindedness.

The issue is really simple:

Is CTD's formula the same as the decay rate formula?
Ha! My formula, eh? From whence comes my formula? Not from any post of mine, but RAZD is happy to put one in my mouth all the same.
Quote
Does A = P(1 + (r/n))^(nt)
Give the same results as A = P*e^(rt)?
Ooh! Can I play? Is R to the A to the Z to the D > Z - E - R - 0?

Quote
If they do, then A should always be the same from both, as as we have seen from many examples this just isn't so, thus it would be wrong to use CTD's formula to calculate decay.
What this means is that if I had supplied a quarter-life formula, it would be wrong because it gives different results from the halflife formula! Earlier, RAZD & Linear both argued that calculating a quarterlife formula would simply give the same results. Is anyone getting dizzy watching RAZD turn around and around and around?

Quote
Could there be any cases where they are equal? Sure, just like a broken watch is correct twice a day ... but that doesn't mean you can use the watch to tell time, does it?
Supplied just in case I actually do post a formula, no doubt.

Quote
If they don't give the same results then they are not the same formulas. If they are not the same formulas then why use one in place of the other unless you want wrong results?
Does not even make sense in this context. If one can obtain different results using 1/4-life, 1/2-life, and 1/20483-life, who's to say which results are "right" or "wrong"? So long as they're all based upon observed decay rates, they're all valid abstractions of those decay rates.

Quote
One also has to wonder why one would go through the effort of using a different formula when the regular formula is easier to calculate.
Even easier to just believe everything RAZD says, right? Will all mush-headed, God-hating drones please flock to RAZD at this time? When he sees what he's getting, maybe he'll stop.

Dark Matter + Dark Energy = Dark Truth

"We find that such evidence demonstrates that the ID argument is dependent upon setting a scientifically unreasonable burden of proof for the theory of evolution." - Judge Jones Kitzmiller case
http://www.talkreason.org/articles/Falsify.cfm

"To Compel A Man To Furnish Funds For The Propagation Of Ideas He Disbelieves And Abhors Is Sinful And Tyrannical." - Thomas Jefferson

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?" - Thomas Jefferson