EQ 10: Equation for Greatness

Dear Friends,

I was going to write about another subject and was wondering if there was a mathematical symbol for greatness.  If there is, I did not find it but I did find this equation for determining greatness (here).  I thought it looked great so I copied and pasted it into this post.  I hope that you enjoy it and that somebody actually understands it.

Is Steve Jobs as good as Tiger Woods? Is Philip Roth better than Warren Buffett? Are any of them as great as Michael Jordan was? And how will their relative greatness be viewed in the future, say, fifty years from now? Are any questions so dumb as these? Well, this one: Why don't we answer them? We chose a dozen generally acknowledged living masters of their field and asked Garth Sundem, a math guru and author of Geek Logik, to develop an algorithm to quantify and rank their relative current and future greatness. And he did. This is his formula:
*KEY

• D = Directorships, boards

• BAT = Google hits: "full name" + average of "best all time," "greatest," and "preeminent"

• PQ = Positive Q score (the Q Scores Company)

• F = Google hits: "full name"

• S = Google hits: "full name + 'scandal' "

• BIOS = Number of published biographies

• F$ = Rank on Forbes wealth or celebrity lists

• YT = Highest view count of any (relevant) clip found by searching person's name on YouTube

• QF = Q score familiarity (the Q Scores Company)

• T = Google hits: "full name + average of 'transformed,' 'reinvented,' and 'revolutionized' "

• A = Percent of world population directly affected by person's actions

• CC = Copycats: number of currently famous people who are "in the mold of" subject

• IP = Number of iconic products directly associated with person (Jobs's iPhone, Dylan's essential albums)

• WS = Number of awards, elections, or major appointments

• MG = Number of media genres in which directly active

THE METHOD: We used quantifiable variables that reflect broad categories of performance excellence beyond just records and awards--including innovation, impact in their field, influence beyond that field, and cultural footprint--to yield a final score. See key above for a precise description of the variables used.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal