Hyperbolic annoyance
Jan. 29th, 2013 03:44 pmBlasting loud music into my ears as a defense mechanism gets old. So after finishing a task for work, I did a bit of mathematics.
Specifically, I tried to think of a rough correlation between the extent to which someone resorts to screaming and bully tactics, and the extent to which I will take them seriously.
It looks a little bit like this:

Specifically, I tried to think of a rough correlation between the extent to which someone resorts to screaming and bully tactics, and the extent to which I will take them seriously.
It looks a little bit like this:

(I picture B as how obnoxious the person in question is, with A as, basically, how much slack I'm willing to cut them for it. This is a classic rectangular hyperbolic curve; note how quickly A drops, and how it approaches closer to zero the higher B gets.)
(It's scary how many aspects of life that equation applies to.)
(It's scary how many aspects of life that equation applies to.)