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== Baez's crackpot index ==
The method, proposed semi-seriously by mathematical physicist [[John C. Baez]] in 1992, computes an index by responses to a list of 36 questions, each positive response contributing a point value ranging from 1 to 50. The computation is initialized with a value of −5.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html|title=Crackpot index|website=math.ucr.edu|access-date=2018-07-17}}</ref> An earlier version only had 17 questions with point values for each ranging from 1 to 40.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html|title=Crackpot index|date=1996-11-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961110050053/http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html|access-date=2018-07-17|archive-date=1996-11-10}}</ref>
Baez confirmed in a 1993 letter to ''[[New Scientist]]'' that he created the index.<ref name=BaezNS>{{cite magazine
| last = Baez
| first = John
| date = 23 January 1993
| title = Letters: Crackpot credit
| url = https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg13718576-200-letters-crackpot-credit/
| magazine = [[New Scientist]]
| issue = 1857
| access-date = 2023-08-10
}}</ref> The index was later published in ''[[Skeptic (American magazine)|Skeptic]]'' magazine, with an editor's note saying "we know that outsiders to afield can make important contributions and even lead revolutions. But the chances of that happening are rather slim, especially when they meet many of the [Crackpot index] criteria".<ref name=Skeptic>{{cite magazine
| last = Baez
| first = John
| date = 2001
| volume = 8
| issue = 4
| title = The crackpot index
| magazine = [[Skeptic (American magazine)|Skeptic]]
| ___location = [[Altadena, CA]]
}} [https://www.skeptic.com/magazine/archives/8.4/ Contents]</ref>
Presumably any positive value of the index indicates crankiness.
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