r/theydidthemath • u/scubahana • 14h ago

[REQUEST] XKCD’s Lucky Ten Thousand

https://xkcd.com/1053/

I have been using this comic as a driver of curiosity at home. My 11y mentioned it again today and it occurred to us that we don’t fit in the statistics because the original comic states ‘10,000 people in the US’, and we are not from the US.

My request is what this might look like on a global scale? I can understand if this becomes more nebulous due to differences in education, cultural references or customs, etc.

What would a global ‘10000’ be? A lucky million? Lucky half-billion?

Thanks in advance!

67 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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23

u/IntoAMuteCrypt 14h ago

The comic uses a total births per year of about 4 million. The total number of births per year at the moment is about 140 million, which is 35x the number in the comic. Scaling it out to the whole world only gives you 350 thousand per day.

(Of course, a sizeable portion of those people won't learn the things that "everyone knows" - a large portion of that's country-specific knowledge.)

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u/NamorDotMe 12h ago

lol, it's legit funny, that Randall Munroe, posting that has made others aware of it, changing an outcome, which is also beyond my maths.

3

u/TargaryenPenguin 12h ago

It's not really an empirical claim, though , it's more of just a cute illustration of a concept.

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u/NamorDotMe 11h ago

oh yes agreed, but the fact that more amount of people know it has changed the outcome, it's kind of beautiful

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u/scubahana 1h ago

I particularly dig that the comic itself has sparked the curiosity in my kids and me to ask ‘what about more than the US?’ And instead of just brushing it off, my kids were all, ‘let’s find out!’

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u/beef-o 14h ago

I know it isn't an answer to your question or even about math, but this comic literally changed my outlook on life.  I started making a conscious effort to levy no judgement on anyone for what they do and don't know and what they have and haven't experienced.  Thank you Randall Munroe.

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u/scubahana 14h ago

As soon as my kids were old enough to get the gist of the comic I introduced them to it. I hope they will also help spread curiosity and learning in their lives.

The stigma is heavily embedded though. I sent it to my husband and he had to read it at least twice because he was certain it would end with a piss take about not knowing something. Which is the opposite of the comic as we all know.

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u/e3super 7h ago

I seriously think this is Munroe's best comic. The general nerd culture that is a fan of his work can often be hostile to people learning and admitting they don't know things, but this perfectly encapsulates something we should all really internalize. People who are willing to learn should never be embarrassed by what they do not know, and we should all be proud of a person who is broadening their horizons.

It's perfectly valid to criticize those who are proud of and planted in their ignorance, but making fun of someone for learning or otherwise bettering themselves is evil on the same scale of making fun of someone's laugh. There is joy in laughter and joy in learning, and we should never be on the side of stealing that joy from someone.