m Date maintenance tags and general fixes |
|||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
The '''crackpot index''' is a number that rates scientific claims or the individuals that make them, in conjunction with a method for computing that number. The method, proposed (most likely as a joke){{ |
The '''crackpot index''' is a number that rates scientific claims or the individuals that make them, in conjunction with a method for computing that number. The method, proposed (most likely as a joke){{Or|date=November 2008}} by mathematical physicist [[John Baez]] in 1992, computes an index by responses to a list of 37 questions, each positive response contributing a point value ranging from 1 to 50. The computation is initialized with a value of −5. |
||
Presumably any positive value of the index indicates crankiness. |
Presumably any positive value of the index indicates crankiness. |
Revision as of 09:25, 24 January 2009
The crackpot index is a number that rates scientific claims or the individuals that make them, in conjunction with a method for computing that number. The method, proposed (most likely as a joke)[original research?] by mathematical physicist John Baez in 1992, computes an index by responses to a list of 37 questions, each positive response contributing a point value ranging from 1 to 50. The computation is initialized with a value of −5.
Presumably any positive value of the index indicates crankiness.
Though the index was not proposed as a serious method, it nevertheless has become popular in Internet discussions of whether a claim or an individual is cranky, particularly in physics (e.g. at the Usenet newsgroup sci.physics), or in mathematics.
Chris Caldwell's Prime Pages has a version adapted to prime number research[1] which is a field with many famous unsolved problems that are easy to understand for amateur mathematicians.
An earlier crackpot index is Fred J. Gruenberger's "A Measure for Crackpots"[2] published in December 1962 by the RAND Corporation.
See also
References
- ^ Chris Caldwell. "The PrimeNumbers' Crackpot index".
{{cite web}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|accessdaymonth=
(help); Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=
ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=
ignored (|access-date=
suggested) (help) - ^ Fred J. Gruenberger. "A Measure for Crackpots" (PDF).
External links
- John Baez, The Crackpot Index.
- Crank Dot Net, a list of allegedly cranky websites, roughly organized by subject area.