time-based point system

[Jay]

I'm sorry.  I never considered what you said about the relationship
about the input and output.  I'll take my thread elsewhere to a math
board.


Erik Max Francis wrote:
> Jay wrote:
>
> > That function is absolutely no good for this situation.
> >
> > 1. Take a small number.
> > 5.4348809719085693
> >
> > 2. Put it in the function.
> > f(5.4348809719085693) = 1/5.4348809719085693
> >
> > 3. Get a large number???
> > 0.18399666987533483
> >
> > That number is even smaller.  I want a large one coming out.
>
> f(x) = 1/x is just one example of a function that has the property of
> being a "negative function" -- the smaller number you put in, the larger
> number you get out, and vice versa.  Your statement didn't clearly
> indicate that the outputs need to be bigger than the inputs, just that
> they need to be bigger the smaller the outputs are.  The more general
> function would be f(x) = A/(x - B).  Choose A and B as desired so that
> f(x) > x for all x you care about.  Or choose another function, like
> f(x) = A - B x or any number of other functions.  There literally are an
> infinite number of possibilities.
>
> The point is, as I've already said, you haven't given nearly enough
> information to give you a useful answer.  You haven't indicated, for
> instance, anything at all about the domain or range of the function that
> you want:  What values do you need to plug in?  What range of values do
> you need to get out?  Once you have clarified to yourself what
> properties you want, that will help you define the function.
>
> At this point you're the only one who knows what properties you want,
> and unless you define them up front, it results in a very unsatisfactory
> guessing game of proposing a function, you telling me what's wrong with
> it, and repeat until either or both of us get bored.
>
> And, by the way, this is a question about mathematics, and so has
> nothing to do specifically with Python.
>
> --
> Erik Max Francis && max at alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
>   San Jose, CA, USA && 37 20 N 121 53 W && AIM, Y!M erikmaxfrancis
>    Get married, but never to a man who is home all day.
>     -- George Bernard Shaw