Anniversary Vs Event Day

15-Aug-2020 / 73rd or 74th Independence Day

Today our country is celebrating the Independence Day- but there is a controversy whether it is 73rd or 74th. This is the “Off by One” syndrome by computer programming parlance. Let’s analyse and understand it in simple logical steps.

Our country was declared independent on 15-Aug-1947. And today is 15-Aug-2020. Simple arithmetic tells us that the difference is 73 years- it means that today we have completed 73 years and NOT 74 years.

Simultaneously, just today we stepped into the 74th year of Independence. And it will last till 15-Aug-2021, on which day we would have completed 74 years of independence.

Note that 73 or 74 years denotes a ”Duration of Time”, and 73rd or 74th event denotes a “Point in Time”. For people more conversant with Arithmetic, 73, 74 etc. are “Cardinal” numbers, while 73rd,74th etc. are “Ordinal” numbers.

Don’t confuse this two terms which are different. So the correct statement is that on the day of 74th Independence Day we completed 73 years of independence.

Let’s check it: with the same logic on 15-Aug-1947 we celebrated the 1st Independence Day and we completed 0 year of independence. Right? Yes, and the algebraic form are: on (n+1)th event day we complete n years of that event.

Now let’s come to the concept of “Anniversary”. Any event happening for the 1st time is NOT an Anniversary. The counting of anniversary starts a year after. So, on the 73rd Anniversary of our Independence we complete 73 years of independence. And the algebraic form is: on (n)th event Anniversary Day we complete n years of that event.

To summarise, if we use “Anniversary” then number denoting the duration and point are same. But if we don’t use “Anniversary” then number denoting the duration is one less than the number denoting point.

Having explained that, an exception can be stated here. Most people say it’s my 16th Birthday and my age is 16. What they mean is that, it’s my 16th Birthday “Anniversary” and my age is 16. The “Anniversary” word they omit inadvertently to cut the expression short. And that has become a norm, even if it is arithmetically incorrect.

Programmed to Fail

10-May-2020 / Food for Thought:

Please consider these three things:

(1) We, in our country, have a so called very efficient system of governance which is programmed to fail. Some won’t like it, so they are indifferent towards it. Some will simply reject it. Some work overtime to see it fail, so that they can blame the govt. There are still some who half-heartedly carry out without any seriousness. So the result is anybody’s guess.

(2) We are very proficient in post-event analysis. We do a lot of research why this failed, why that went wrong. Very rarely we plan for success. And even if we do the above item no.1 happens.

(3) Convergence: We never work in unison, or to say for a common goal. All the Govt Departments / independent entities / groups / bodies have their own set of goals, which rarely converge. And even at times goals clash with one another. Here’s a classic example: A couple of years ago, when the GoI decided to launch bank FDs for Senior Citizens with an RoI @8% pa, no banks came forward. They said it is not viable. Later LIC of India took up with their own tenets.

If we have developed since independence, it’s not because of the system but in spite of it. We have fortunately a select set of individuals who carry forward the nation against heavy odds.

In A Lighter Note

26-Apr-2020 / In a Lighter Note:

What is a Musk Melon?

Musk Melon or Muskmelon, also known by its scientific name, Cucumis melo, is a type of melon fruit that belongs to the same family as pumpkins, squash, zucchini and cucumbers.

Now let's have some fun: just reverse the positions of the two words. Then remove the 'M' from the first word (after reversal). What did you get? Did it surprise you?

A great, highly successful and billionaire innovator, entrepreneur, motivator. 

Significant Digits

Things to Contemplate on 22-Dec-2019:

Saw a news headline about a trader got a GST reminder to pay Rs. 5.9858630140000004 due asap. Look at the ridicule- and let me explain: We Indians tend to do things which will complicate the existing pattern, thinking that it shows the genius, intellect of the person who does it. But needless to say it is pointless to be so accurate in the context. It may be pertinent to be very accurate in Rocket Science or Astronomical calculations, but silly for a person to pay that amount. We have very disproportional concept of accuracy. Many of us have heard of “Margin of Errors” or “Total Significant Digits” which will help in understanding why it’s nonsensical or farcical.

A small set of examples may be worth mentioning:

• For Accounting: no places of decimal, ex.- 23,76,548
• For measuring Height / Weight: 1 place of decimal, ex.- 171.1 cm / 68.3 kg
• For Rupee & Paise: 2 places of decimal, ex.- 23.82
• For expressing Total Units held in MF: 3 places of decimal, ex.- 879.354
• For expressing NAV in MF: 4 places of decimal, ex.- 15.4793
• For Forex conversion: 5 places of decimal, ex.- 71.62783
• For Dividend Declaration in MF: 6 places of decimal, ex.- 2.987654

These figures are conventionally expressed in these ways, but if someone says he is 175.456789 cm tall and weighs 74.98674 kg - it looks and sounds ridiculous.

A word about the “Total Significant Digits”: The bigger the number is, the less numbers appear after decimal. Ex.- Rs. 46.55 makes some meaning- say the price of any article, but Rs. 45,56,765.43 is meaningless- say the annual income of a small company, because 43 paise is insignificant at 45.5 Lakh odd rupees. Similarly for a Crore a few rupees are insignificant. The Total Significant Digits refer to the number of continuous digits before and after a zero- in this case we have 8 significant digits. The general norm is 5 or 7 significant digits Like 234.45, 2,344.5, 23,445, or 2,34,450 and so on.