On Wednesday, July 2, 2003, at 05:24  AM, Nikholas F. Toledo Zu wrote:

She sniffed the air:  there it was, the nine distinct meats that
made up the Jumping Buddha Wall, each individual flavor seeping into 
each
other, making eighty-one distinct flavors.

I haven't read the first 11 chapters so I can't comment on the story, 
but as an ex-physicist I can comment on the math. :-)

The correct number of distinct combinations of one or two meats is 45 
(9!2 + 9!1). If you are counting the number of distinct combinations of 
between one and nine meats, then the correct answer (if I did the math 
right) is 529 (9!9 + 9!8 + ..., or 530 if you include the Zen option of 
no flavor at all). All this assumes that meat A plus meat B tastes the 
same as meat B plus meat A. My tongue is commutative, and I think that 
holds for most people.

Mathematical verisimilitude is important if stories are to feel 
convincing to people with scientific backgrounds.

Oh, you didn't care about that? Umm, never mind, then.

Deborah


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