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Reader's question: You have translated y = mx + c into a shopping channel

From Sean.

Wow! Thank you Sean for this question (or "topic") which I must admit threw me at first!

Disclaimer: what follows is a journey into mathematics that I really never expected to happen on this website. It may seem a little nerdy. But I love nerds! Nerds are most welcome! But I'm not one myself, honest.

What I would like to state up front is that The Weight Loss Diet is most certainly NOT a shopping channel and I have no interest in setting one up.

After consulting a friend (let's call her Maxine) who is well versed in matters of algebra, I now understand Sean's point, or at least the mathsy bit. Here is how the conversation went.

I said: "Maxine, I have received a comment on twld.org saying I have translated y = mx + c into a shopping channel. What does that mean?"

Maxine said: "Haha! I think maybe you harbour a secret desire to set up a shopping channel."

I said: "What? I wasn't asking about that bit. No I don't. Do I? Can we focus on the maths?"

Maxine said: "You seem defensive, confused and unconvincing."

I said: "Brilliant. Can we focus on the maths?"

Maxine said: "In terms of maths, Sean is exactly right. If you graph Daily Target Weight on the y axis against time on the x axis, his equation is bang on, so long as m is negative."

I said: "I'm not with you..."

Maxine said: "Daily Target Weight is a linear progression. Each day, the participant loses a constant amount of weight. When I say linear, what I mean is that the participant's weight will reduce in a straight line."

I said: "But our weight fluctuates massively day to day and even during the day?"

(I felt quite clever at this point.)

Maxine said: "You are right. What I specifically mean is the participant's Daily Target Weight will reduce in a straight line."

I said: "Aha! So what do all the letters mean?"

Maxine explained:

I said: "I actually think I understand you. Thank you!"

Maxine said: "You may want to consider second order differentials. Biology doesn't really do straight lines."

I smiled politely.

Thanks again, Sean, for raising this challenging and rewarding topic!

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