A Note on Terminology

[Ben Lehman]

Hey.

So I'm reading the Burning Wheel book and I'm like "why do they call values 'exponents?'  That doesn't...  Oh, wait..."

Luke.  Thank you.  You actually know the math.  Thank you.

yrs--
--Ben

[Luke]

huh? I do?

-L

[Ben Lehman]

Well, uh, maybe you don't.  Suffice it to say that, in BW's die pool system, your chance of (one) success looks like:

P = 1 - (S^E)

Where P is the probability of success
Where S is your Shade (3/6, 2/6, or 1/6 for black, gray, and white)
and E is your exponent.

See how the Exponent is, in fact, an exponent?  Whoa.

If you don't know the math, you're awfully good at faking it.

yrs--
--Ben

[Luke]

exponent also happens to mean "One who, or that which, stands as an index or representative" which is what the number does for shade. i never mathed out that equation, but that's neat.

-L

[Valamir]

Hah, that's too funny.

I never liked the term exponent (my little brain can only store so many game terms at one time) but forgave it because it was a fully mathematically appropriate term.

Only to find out that the math had nothing to do with it, and instead the term was chosen based on a definition of exponent I've never ever heard before...

classic.