NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article
Basic Answers
by Ed Maxey - September 97
edmaxey@pol.net
(click to email author)
10 E1 = 312: O1 = 312' REM E1 gets lowest EVEN & O1 gets lowest ODD countThe print out read, "The odds are 125,000 to one against 267 or less HEADS when a basket of 624 coins is overturned." This was GWBasic's answer when asked to set up trials of 624 random numbers and then tally odds and evens in a million trials. Why are these odds of interest?
Martha S. Linet etal. (RESIDENTIAL EXPOSURE TO MAGNETIC FIELDS AND ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA IN CHILDREN) found "little evidence that living in homes characterized by high measured time-weighted average magnetic-field levels ... increases the risk of ALL in children (N Engl J Med 1997;337:1-7.)." This report found that there were 624 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in a matched analysis. Only 267 of these had a residential electromagnetic field exposures of under 0.065 µT (microTesla). It seemed unlikely that chance alone would have been at play when so few cases occurred in those residences with the lowest category of exposure.
If the median residential EMF exposure in the United States were known one could predict that chance alone would distribute 50% of ALL cases on each side of the median value. This follows the WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY definition; "Designating a point so chosen in a series that half of the individuals in the series are on one side of it, and half on the other."
The median residential EMF has been recognized by law. Judge Michael Galvin (Decision 93-11-013 November 2, 1993, BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA) noted "...the 0.35 milligauss median United States residential EMF level generated by electric power facilities...." This value equates to 0.035 µT, about half of the 0.065 µT in the Linet paper. Judge Galvin also noted that high fields may come from individual appliances. The greatest offenders were hair dryers and electric shavers. Few children sleep within a meter of blowing hair dryers or buzzing shavers.
- Judge Galvin additionally stated,
- "The most often found source of magnetic fields in residential
- and commercial property is the grounding system. The
- grounding system includes water pipes, television cables, gas
- pipelines, and other metallic paths that are grounded."
Many children are exposed to such fields. Parents can turn off electric household appliances. They can not turn off EMFs from the grounding system.
The Linet paper does not depict 0.065 µT as being higher than the national median residential electromagnetic field exposure. Even so, 0.065 µT was treated as the median in this computer program. If the actual median were to be lower than 0.065 µT the odds of acute ALL being linked to power line EMFs would be even greater than 125,000 to one.
Here is the program in case you would like to have your computer confirm these odds. Those with scanners may simply scan the program into their computers. ANSWERS.BAS is suggested as a name.
- The command line would be:
GWBasic ANSWERS
and then press the enter key.
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