Quantification

I've been thinking recently (the last day or so) about keeping track of things numerically. I suppose that this started last night when I finally achieved 100% completion on a game I had been playing for a while now, attempting to reach 100% completion. The endless run portion had been giving me trouble, so I tried to look at it from a logical point of view. I need to get 50,000 gold worth of treasure and kills accumulated by the time I finally do die. How much is each individual piece of treasure worth? How much are the enemies worth? As it turns out, combos are quite the money-maker; the higher the current combo is, the more an enemy is worth when you kill them. Keep the combo alive, and it becomes very, very profitable.

Assigning a number value to something may also help put it into perspective, like earlier today, when one of my sister's guinea pigs escape from their corral three times in one hour. Considering that I spent most of that hour trying to get her to get back into the corral, I think it is understandable that by the third time around, my frustration started to show. However, I was successful, and the entire incident helped me to improve the general security we have set up to keep them contained, by revealing two points that a small guinea pig can squeeze through. It should probably be pointed out that her mistake was making a fourth escape attempt while I was in the same room.

Admittedly, some things are not so easily quantified. The exact growth rate of one's fingernails is dependent on several factors and varies from individual to individual, and is usually so small that it can be ignored by most. I bring this up because it's about time for me to trim my nails again. Back in high school, I would know it was time to trim my nails when the topics of general conversation turned to how long my nails were - specifically my nails. I think part of it was that they were a little in awe that I had nails. I didn't (and still don't) bite or pick my nails, so they are allowed to grow out, and when I do trim them, I don't trim them all the way to the cuticle - I leave a little bit behind. All the factors come together with the result being that I actually had (and still have) fingernails on my fingers. That's more than could be said about the people that were around me.

Sometimes, looking at the numbers can make tracking down something or organizing multiple things a much easier task. About two hours ago, I was attempting to find a picture that I had seen, only to encounter difficulty and not be able to find it. Looking through the archive, I found pictures that I recognized from when I saw the picture I was interested in. Nothing in the general area near those pictures stood out, so I went through the main pages, one by one. Checking the dates of the familiar pictures, I noted the date for them (two weeks), which gave me a general timeframe, and a specific start point and end point. If it says one week ago, keep going; if it says three weeks ago, I've probably gone too far; when it says "two weeks", start paying attention. In the end, I was able to find the picture, and from there, locate it on the archive wall (in my defense, the thumbnail for that picture was the text at the top, and easily overlooked).

Sometimes looking at the numbers helps make sense of things. I (along with many other people, I'm sure) am in the process of collecting all the state quarters. I am very close to completion, only missing two or three (I'm not sure about Pennsylvania; I'm pretty sure I have a copy, but I'm not sure if it's redundant or not). At the beginning it was easy - nearly every state quarter I came upon was a new one. But after a while it got harder, again and again, I'd come across a quarter, only to find that I already had that one. I can break it down by numbers; following the first quarter, I only had a 2% chance of getting a redundant quarter. The tipping point would have been at the trio formed by quarters numbers 24-25-26. There the chances went from 48%/52% with a higher chance of finding a new quarter, to 50%/50%, to 52%/48% with a higher chance of finding a redundant quarter.

Putting numbers to things really do help in keeping track of them. Perhaps something isn't nearly as big as you might think, or maybe it is much bigger than you once thought. A goal becomes more tangible, and progress can be more readily observed and tracked.

Something to think about.