Saturday 2 February 2013

f.o.i.l. or quadratic erratic

From beyond the land of Mathmagic, there is a lively debate about the identity—and indeed the complexity of the infamous equation and set of approaches that dealt a coup de grรขce to the stock markets and exchanges, which ticker-taped out of Wall Street. Rather than a formula that takes an inscrutable and evil-genius to comprehend, however, one source, which is not alone in its disappointing accusations, offers proof that a much simpler but overlooked preparatory lesson caused that down-fall. Many sources were satisfied with putting the blame on early, emergent and exotic sets of equations that governed derivatives and other seductive pyramid schemes and championed by most all subsequent publications. I felt the dazzle of these novel formulas were to blame as well, but it is generally the case that it is easier to obscure one’s own motives, greed and misapprehension behind a knotty math problem than admitting to not doing one’s homework, despite the culture.