Crackpot index: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:09, 23 September 2016

Revision as of 08:41, 17 July 2018

Line 4:

}}

The '''crackpot index''' is a number that rates scientific claims or the individuals that make them, in conjunction with a method for computing that number. TheWhile method,the proposedindices semi-seriouslyhave bybeen mathematicalcreated physicistfor [[Johntheir C.humorous Baez]] in 1992value, computestheir angeneral indexconcepts bycan responsesbe toapplied ain listother offields 36like questions,risk eachmanagement.<ref>{{Cite positivebook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXPCBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=%22crackpot+index%22#v=onepage&q=%22crackpot%20index%22&f=false|title=The responseFailure contributingof aRisk pointManagement: valueWhy rangingIt's fromBroken 1and How to 50Fix It|last=Hubbard|first=Douglas W.|date=2009-04-27|publisher=John Wiley The& computationSons|isbn=9780470387955|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite isnews|url=https://www.wired.com/2006/01/every_field_of_/|title=Every initializedfield withof astudy valuedeserves ofits &minus;5.own Crackpot Index|last=Staff|first=Wired|work=WIRED|access-date=2018-07-17|language=en-US}}</ref>

== 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 &minus;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=https://web.archive.org/web/19961110050053/http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html|title=Crackpot index|date=1996-11-10|access-date=2018-07-17}}</ref>

Presumably any positive value of the index indicates crankiness.

Line 12 ⟶ 15:

Chris Caldwell's [[Prime Pages]] has a version adapted to [[prime number]] research<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primes.utm.edu/notes/crackpot.html |title= ''The PrimeNumbers' Crackpot index'' |accessdate= October 23, 2007 |author=Chris Caldwell}}</ref> which is a field with many famous unsolved problems that are easy to understand for amateur mathematicians.

== Gruenberger's measure for crackpots ==

An earlier crackpot index is Fred J. Gruenberger's "A Measure for Crackpots"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/papers/2006/P2678.pdf|format=PDF|title=A Measure for Crackpots|author=Fred J. Gruenberger}}</ref> published in December 1962 by the [[RAND Corporation]].