5 ms·

"In the fall of 1972, President Nixon announced that the rate of increase of inflation was decreasing. This was the first time a sitting president used the thir

"In the fall of 1972, President Nixon announced that the rate of increase of inflation was decreasing. This was the first time a sitting president used the third derivative to advance his case for reelection." - Civ5

jjcon 4y ago
Would that be third derivative or just second? My brain doesn’t want to parse that
- joenot443 4y ago
  Acceleration of inflation is the second derivative, the rate of change of that acceleration (what Nixon is referring to), is the third.
- huevosabio 4y ago
  inflation = d price / dt "rate of increase of inflation" (RII) = d inflation / dt "decreasing rate of increase" = d RII / dt
- ericsoderstrom 4y ago
  Yes, because inflation is already the first derivative of cost. So the 'rate of increase' of inflation is the second derivative. And to say that the second derivative is decreasing is another way of saying the third derivative is negative
- deleted 4y ago
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- voz_ 4y ago
  > the rate (y) of increase of inflation (x) was decreasing (z). I guess first, does he mean that y, the rate at which x increases is going down by z? or that y is down, but z is not its rate? And second, if you see inflation here as a derivative or not.
- burnished 4y ago
  Third I think. First is the inflation rate itself (some positive number around 8%), second is how that rate is changing (some positive number meaning we expect the inflation rate itself to increase next interval) third is how that change itself is trending (negative I think? meaning that we'd expect the still overall positive increase to the base inflation rate to be somewhat less than it was in the previous interval). Take that with a grain of salt, I'd welcome any corrections if some one sees fit.
- setuids 4y ago
  It would be the 3rd derivative. Inflation is the first (rate of change of prices). The increase of Inflation is the second (rate of change of inflation). Therefore the decrease of the increase of inflation is the third
  - jjcon 4y ago
    Oh that makes sense, inflation being first deriv is what I wasn’t catching. Thank you.
adamrezich 4y ago
apparently the actual source of the quote is Hugo Rossi
eganist 4y ago
Fitting that Nixon would reference the jerk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerk_(physics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerk_(physics)
everybodyknows 4y ago
Is it believed Nixon understood the literal meaning of his words? He was very clever, but did that extend to quantitative domains? The suggestion seems to be "yes", and that he was playing a game of telling a literal truth that was not however the good news 99.9% of the electorate would take it to be.

jjcon 4y ago

Would that be third derivative or just second? My brain doesn’t want to parse that

joenot443 4y ago
Acceleration of inflation is the second derivative, the rate of change of that acceleration (what Nixon is referring to), is the third.
huevosabio 4y ago
inflation = d price / dt "rate of increase of inflation" (RII) = d inflation / dt "decreasing rate of increase" = d RII / dt
ericsoderstrom 4y ago
Yes, because inflation is already the first derivative of cost. So the 'rate of increase' of inflation is the second derivative. And to say that the second derivative is decreasing is another way of saying the third derivative is negative
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voz_ 4y ago
> the rate (y) of increase of inflation (x) was decreasing (z). I guess first, does he mean that y, the rate at which x increases is going down by z? or that y is down, but z is not its rate? And second, if you see inflation here as a derivative or not.
burnished 4y ago
Third I think. First is the inflation rate itself (some positive number around 8%), second is how that rate is changing (some positive number meaning we expect the inflation rate itself to increase next interval) third is how that change itself is trending (negative I think? meaning that we'd expect the still overall positive increase to the base inflation rate to be somewhat less than it was in the previous interval). Take that with a grain of salt, I'd welcome any corrections if some one sees fit.
setuids 4y ago
It would be the 3rd derivative. Inflation is the first (rate of change of prices). The increase of Inflation is the second (rate of change of inflation). Therefore the decrease of the increase of inflation is the third
- jjcon 4y ago
  Oh that makes sense, inflation being first deriv is what I wasn’t catching. Thank you.

adamrezich 4y ago

apparently the actual source of the quote is Hugo Rossi

eganist 4y ago

Fitting that Nixon would reference the jerk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerk_(physics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerk_(physics)

everybodyknows 4y ago

Is it believed Nixon understood the literal meaning of his words? He was very clever, but did that extend to quantitative domains? The suggestion seems to be "yes", and that he was playing a game of telling a literal truth that was not however the good news 99.9% of the electorate would take it to be.