The lost socks calculator takes total socks washed, people in household, attitude towards doing laundry, precautions taken, socks price, types of washes and number of washes and returns chance of losing a sock, lifetime money lost and socks lost. It is built for quick answers, for checking somebody else’s arithmetic, and for the moments when a formula book is not within reach.
What Is the Lost Socks Calculator?
The lost socks calculator turns total socks washed, people in household, attitude towards doing laundry, precautions taken, socks price, types of washes and number of washes into chance of losing a sock, lifetime money lost and socks lost.
It is a quick way to get from the numbers you have to the number you need, without setting up a spreadsheet or reaching for a formula.
How the Lost Socks Works
Each result follows from the ones before it, and the calculator shows every step, so a surprising answer can be traced back to the input that caused it.
Round your inputs to the precision you actually know, and keep more precision than that in the intermediate steps.
Getting a Result You Can Trust
Run the calculation twice with slightly different inputs. A sensible calculator moves its output in proportion; a wild change points to a unit or a decimal point problem in what you entered.
Write the inputs down next to the answer. It takes a moment and it is the difference between a number you can explain and one you cannot.
A Worked Example
Working through an example, with total socks washed set to 10, people in household set to 5, attitude towards doing laundry set to 5, the calculator returns chance of losing a sock of 1.94, and socks lost of 0.28, and money lost of 27.66. Substitute your own figures and the same steps produce the same kind of answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I need to work out chance of losing a sock?
Enter total socks washed, people in household, attitude towards doing laundry, precautions taken, socks price, types of washes and number of washes. The calculator then works through the relationship and reports chance of losing a sock, lifetime money lost and socks lost.
What does the lost socks actually calculate?
It takes total socks washed, people in household, attitude towards doing laundry, precautions taken, socks price, types of washes and number of washes and converts them into chance of losing a sock, lifetime money lost and socks lost using the standard relationship for this problem. Each step is applied in turn, so every output is traceable back to the numbers you typed in.
How should I enter total socks washed?
Use the value you actually have, in the unit shown next to the field. Enter every value in the same unit system. The calculator assumes the figures you supply are consistent, so it cannot correct a mistake that happens before the calculation starts.
Do I have to fill in every field?
Only the fields a particular result depends on. If you leave one blank, the results that need it simply show a note instead of a number, and everything else still works.
Does anything you type get stored?
No. The whole calculation runs inside your browser, and nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or sent anywhere.