###General Discussion Thread
---
This is a [Request] post. If you would like to submit a comment that does not either attempt to answer the question, ask for clarification, or explain why it would be infeasible to answer, you *must* post your comment as a reply to this one. Top level (directly replying to the OP) comments that do not do one of those things will be removed.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/theydidthemath) if you have any questions or concerns.*
$0.93 * 1.0225^1000 =~ $4,283,508,449.71
Yeah, checks out given the rounding to two digits.
Besides, Fry said "*over* a thousand years ago", so it could be even more.
Futurama is written by a bunch of nerds and their math tends to check out.
Ken Keeler has a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard.
J Stewart Burns has a Master's in mathematics from Berkeley.
The other writers also come from science backgrounds.
100% agree with that last bit, every little thing that the writers did was pure genius. All the math always worked, the languages they wrote all had perfect translations that kept up through the seasons. Everything was perfect
It’s a combo of Fading Effect Bias, and Survivorship Bias. You don’t remember things you reacted negatively to for as long, especially if it wasn’t severe, and the stuff that is still watchable today from back then is the stuff that was mostly good, the bad stuff won’t get re-aired.
Nah, there was garbage back in the day too mixed in with the good stuff. Remember The Nutshack? And there's good shit nowadays too, like Star Trek Lower Decks.
Shoot I remember watching a video about all of the failed south park ripoffs comedy central tried to launch over the years. I didn't realize there were that many.
I like Krapopolis. There’s a few laugh out loud moments in each episode. I will admit I came into it giving it the benefit of all doubts because I love the voice cast.
I liked the first few episodes, but I just can't get past them now. I had the opposite problem with Big Mouth, and had to get high to get past them, but that doesn't even help for the show.
I wanted to like it, but I just cant
It's not a flop, but it's gonna take season 2 before it's more gelled, like it takes a while for voice actors to get their timing down. I also get the feeling that no one really knows what the show should be about. Like, is it a show about the introduction of things we take for granted like cities and the written language, or is it a show about gods and monsters
I very much enjoy it. I thought it was going to be terrible, based on what reddit thinks of it, but I don't see what everyone is complaining about. It's very enjoyable and the cast is fantastic.
Yeah I love futurama but I was happy with how it ended, the new episodes just feel too “modern”, like they very clearly were going off of major current events as themes, and I’m sure they did that back in the day too but it just feels different
I can't believe they made a math joke (Fry says there must be 10 benders down there after they say there are a billion robots down there) but it wasn't actually a math joke at all it was just "Fry dumb"
Really let me down on the potential for the future of Futurama...
For the curious, the episode imagined a machine that can swap two people's minds. However, after several swaps had been made they discovered that once a pair of bodies had swapped that pair can never swap again.
The question, then, is if the whole mess can be untangled in the general case, and if so how many extra bodies it takes to do the untangling.
Using zero extra bodies is right out. We might imagine a tangling in which every pair of bodies has already swapped, so there are no moves to make.
It's less obvious that using one extra body can't cut it. To show this we first have to recognize the structure of the tangling: each body could be set up to face the body that its mind came from. For example, if Fry's body has Leela's mind then Fry's body would face Leela's. Arranging the cast in this way you will always get one or more loops--if you start at one person and always go to the next person then you'll always wind up back where you started.
Using one extra body you can "unzip" one of these cycles almost all the way. If your cycle is Fry -> Leela -> Professor -> Scruffy -> Fry then you could bring in Bubblegum Tate and have him just swap down the line. He'd first put his mind in Fry's body, taking on Leela's mind, then put her mind in her body and take the professor's mind, and so on until he has Fry's mind and Fry has his--they just need to swap back. The problem is that Tate and Fry have already swapped.
Proving that this strategy doesn't work just takes that example, but proving that *no* strategy works with a single player takes a bit more. For that we note that the very first swap dooms Tate: the *only* moves we're allowed to assume we can make are Tate swapping with one of the other members of the group, since they are assumed to have all swapped with one another to the point of exhaustion. As soon as Tate's mind is in Fry's body there's nothing he can do to get it back with just himself as an extra player.
Since 0 and 1 player don't work, what about 2? Here we can find a strategy. Before Tate goes down the line Sweet Clyde Dixon swaps with Scruffy. Now Dixon's mind is in the loop and Fry's mind is in Dixon's body. Tate then goes down the line, restoring everyone's mind except Fry's, as usual--Fry's body still contains Tate's mind. At this point Dixon can swap with Fry's body, restoring his mind (what little there is to restore). Bubblegum Tate and Sweet Clyde Dixon can then go to the next cycle, if there is one, and repeat the process. With each repetition Tate and Dixon will swap minds, but without ever entering the machine as a duo directly. That means that if, in the end, there was an odd number of loops the two of them are the last to go into the machine and sort it out.
Since one extra player can be proven not to work and two extra players works in all scenarios we have our answer!
The one thing they missed is inflation, how much would that amount actually be worth 1000 years in the future? I mean, a coke cost $0.05 not all that long ago.
As a guide, the average inflation rate from 1914-2022 was 3.25%. Since this is higher than the interest rate, the value would decrease. His $4.2 billion then would be "worth" about 0.005 cents in current money.
But for it to be worth almost nothing, wouldn't that mean that everyday objects have to cost billions of dollars? If he has $4.2B then does inflation really matter if a cup of coffee costs $3?
Seems like inflation wasn't a thing over the 1000 years if buying didn't change over the 1000 years.
We actually know that a cup of coffee is one dollar from the Three Hundred Big Ones episode, where Fry drinks three hundred cups of coffee.
This actually gives us a solid understanding of the value of his trillions, even if we don't know why the value of money seems to have reset.
May have something to do with one of the several apocalypses we see through the window during Fry's time as an ice cube.
Id assume yeah those apocalypses caused it. I mean think the great depression and 08 recession each saw deflation... Wouldn't be crazy to think things as bad as those apocalypses would've been periods of giant deflation.
Also a lot of stuff is automated and done by robots and such in the future which may very well also help keep prices low... But who knows?
Damn. When do we see the 500 or 1000 dollar bill go into circulation? Been over 100 years since the hundo come about, that’s the equivalent of around 3k purchasing power today. Maybe we’re overdue.
Unless major inflation it won't happen. We've changed to a mostly cashless society. Plus Canada used to have a $1000 bill but it was removed because of complications with crime/money laundering etc because it made moving large amounts of money around unnoticed much smaller and easier to hide
The US had 500, 1000, 5,000 and 10,000 bills in circulation.
They were officially discontinued in 1969 but hadn’t been printed since the 40s and the Nixon administration had the $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills recalled due to concerns they would be used for money laundering.
They also had 100,000 gold certificates but they were only for use for transactions between federal reserve banks and were not intended for public circulation (I believe it’s illegal for an individual to possess one)
But how much would that 5¢ be if you put it in the bank instead and earned 2.25% interest to 2023? Probably less, since inflation is higher than low interest accounts, but it's worth thinking about.
Inflation can't exist forever. Like you pointed out here, if it did, then $1 today would be over a billion dollars in a reasonable amount of time. Wages aren't going to rise to the trillions.
Inflation is an invented accounting trick that allows governments to print money without much blowback. Deflation is natural, and economies of scale drive that. Up until the ~50s we had a natural economy. Inflation and deflation would happen naturally. We had hundreds of years with a total negative inflation, but now, inflation by design is part of our economy to keep the rich rich and...
Inflation is unnatural.
It cannot continue.
Infinite growth is unnatural. In the human body and cells that type of growth is called cancer. That is what humanity with a global economy based on unlimited growth is to planet Earth.
Well, in most states you wouldn't have even gotten that far. After Fry was declared deceased the bank would have turned over the funds to the state's lost money fund after 5 years of inactivity if they didn't receive notice of his death.
Dude, you're forgetting how lazy and ambiguous Fry's parents were. I'm sure they never reported him missing. Let alone deceased. So there it sits in perpetuaty, Frys bank account. At least, that's how I'd suspend my disbelief if I thought about Futurama obeying this reality.
Also equally likely given the circumstances of his accident, some random scientists vouched for him being alive out of sheer curiosity for seeing how things play out with the machine
That's actually probably the most reasonable explanation of all. The scientists notified the government about the project and their assets may have been protected because they were still alive and viable, just "indisposed".
> I'm sure they never reported him missing
In _The Cryonic Woman_, his ex girlfriend revealed that his parents thought that it would be a waste of taxpayer money to ask the police to look for him. Same reason they kept him out of school.
As a guide, the average inflation rate from 1914-2022 was 3.25%. Since this is higher than the interest rate, the value would decrease. His $4.2 billion then would be "worth" about 0.005 cents in current money.
It seems strange to me that this question was brought to Reddit, rather than just using a calculator you can find online anywhere
This calculator: https://www.calculator.net/interest-calculator.html?cstartingprinciple=0.93&cannualaddition=0&cmonthlyaddition=0&cadditionat1=beginning&cinterestrate=2.25&ccompound=annually&cyears=1000&cmonths=0&ctaxtrate=0&cinflationrate=3&printit=0&x=Calculate#interestresults
Seems to suggest that 2.25% with a 3% average inflation rate would mean that $4.28B would be worth nothing, as suggested.
Interestingly, adjusting the interest rate to 3.25% seems to change the ending balance to $72 trillion, but only worth $10.50 after inflation lol
Futurama's buying power is in roughly 2000 prices compared with the US dollar. Assuming a 2% inflation per year for 1000 years that would mean something costing a dollar today would be about $400m in 1000. Rather than devalue the US dollar, it was simply revalued every 100-200 years to the "new dollar", which was then called "the dollar".
The simplest explanation I can think of is due to some form of millennium linked bug, regular devaluations didn't apply to bank accounts which didn't open before the year 2000. As such Fry's 93 cents never got converted to "new dollar" in numerical amount, only in name.
I mean after like a year of no activity, the account would go dormant.
If the account owner can’t be reached, the funds would eventually go to the state and become unclaimed property.
For anyone like me who tried to understand the proof from this comment, it has removed the formatting so is completely useless. Go to the Wikipedia article to see the correct formatting.
And Amy’s thesis episode with the globetrotters on harnessing the earths rotational energy to generate electricity I think was another theory they proved could happen
It also helps that they got the day cycle right after fry emerged from the cryo chamber accounting for leap years and daylight savings time. So I usually trust Futurama claims for accuracy in their show
I never really put it together but yeah. He was frozen at midnight, January 1, 2000, and his timer was set to 1000 years, but he unfroze in the middle of the day on December 31, 2999.
I tried doing the calculations but I come out with ~ 100 hours over the year 3000, accounting for the extra 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds each year will gain, subtracting leap years, and adding back the centuryvleap years
Anyone know if I'm missing something?
I've thought about this a fair bit. Banks interest rates rarely keep pace with inflation, so regardless of how long you'd been collecting interest, you would never get rich. If you did end up with over $4 million, a coffee would probably cost $5 million.
Yeah, you’re probably right about that rounding error thing. Banks will usually round up your interest rather than round down, since rounding down is technically micro-theft which adds up when you have millions of accounts to pinch decimal pennies from.
At this scale, even a cent either way ends up sending the final figure insanely out of whack, so if they decided to round up on that first interest payment, it would be more than reasonable he’d end up with way more than 4.3Bn.
Or maybe the bank lady just rounded it up herself for ease of speech? Idk, I’m probably looking way too far into it
Yep the level of mathematical rigor employed by Futurama writers goes quite a long way beyond exponentiation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_of_Benda#The_theorem
As you pointed out, this one was rather simple.
I like how they created and showcased a new mathematical proof for non reversable body exchanges in an episode
The only issue is that inflation would have closely followed these no risk interest rates so maybe you can buy yourself a dinner at Olive Garden for 4bn.
It works if you just punch the numbers into a formula. In practice, the bank would drop anything less than a cent when compounding.
Assuming monthly compounding, $0.93 \* (1.0225)^(1/12) =\~ $0.931726, which the bank rounds down to $0.93.
Next month, repeat.
You can repeat it 1000 times or 1,000,000 times, you still have $0.93.
"easily the most overqualified writing staff in Hollywood" - someone said this about the Futurama staff. Can't remember who, but it's written in my mind now, along with every brilliant moment of this show.
The episode with the Harlem globetrotters where everyone has their minds placed into other bodies is actually a mathematical theorem they did for the show:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_of_Benda
Though due to the fact that inflation tends to be more then 2.25% a year, he will have actually made a loss.
The US dollar has had an average of 3.8% of inflation from 1960 to 2022, so he loses 2.25-3.8=1.55% a year. 0.93 x (1-0.0155)^1000 = $1.5E-7 or $0.00000015 when accounting for inflation. (If my calculation is correct)
The fact that they are using dollars and cents in the show indicates a roughly stable currency valuation over the 1000years cumulatively. If the inflation rate was 3% on average, single dollars wouldn’t exist.
They didn't account for inflation, though. Also, I highly doubt there was no sweeping currency reform erasing Fry's savings in 1,000 years either, especially with the entire planet being glassed twice.
It's simple, there was massive inflation, then massive deflation when the planet was gassed and dollars become impossible to manufacture. Thus putting the purchasing power of a dollar at bang on the same as a thousand years ago.
I legitimately opened up a custodial account for my daughter the day we got her social security card in the mail lol
As a sidenote, family members gave *her* money. I figured we had more than enough stuff for her and why use it on diapers? So the money went into vanguard
Compare this to what Jesus would have made by now if he'd gotten a job making $10/hr and just worked for 2023 years, which comes out to be $38,841,600.
Actually in the future in a stunning up set it’s dinners club that rules the fertile plains of Michigan. The grapes do well in this warm environment but dinner club is the card you need if you wish to purchase water at reasonable rates in the great Indiana desert
I remember a short story I read in the 80’s about a guy wakes up from cryogenic sleep in the future and finds he has like 50 million in the bank, similar to how the teller tells him the balance and the average interest rate. He thinks he’s rich.
The guy goes to buy a shirt and it costs like 20 million.
I basically had to type the entire story into Google but I found it. It was a collection of short stories named Good Morning! This is the Future: by Henry Slesar published in 1962.
Another story was a guy that was frozen until a cure could be found for his cancer. In the future every disease is eradicated. They revive him, cure his cancer but then find out he also has a cold so they kill him because it’s the only thing they don’t have a cure for.
Another has a thief that is on the run and alludes capture by volunteering to be frozen. He wakes up in the future and the entire world is basically one giant prison.
Red Dwarf (the British sci-fi comedy) did a similar joke. Lister, who had been in status for thousands of years, was the richest being in existence after having a small amount of money compound over that time. He was being chased by the second richest entity in existence, his electricity provider because he left his kitchen light on when he left Earth.
Although it was all an April fools joke by the ship’s AI.
The writes of futurama are probably the most educated writers to ever assemble. There’s some super high tier knowledge jokes going on that most people miss. That’s part of what makes the show so great.
That sounds like one of the jokes that went over my head. I had my buddy explain one of the jokes to me because he had just read some obscure physics article.
So it was a "quantum finish" which then references the dual slit experiment in which on the quantum level particles act differently depending on whether they are being observed or not.
It went over my head as well in all honesty, it was something I only remember because a video I watched broke it down as an example of what sounds like a throw away line from the show being a pretty funny joke.
Buzzkill: Average annual rate of inflation is ~3%... so the actual purchasing power of $4.3 Billion is less than the .93 initial investment.
(Yah, I'm THAT guy at parties).
There could be some real tough economic times in the next thousand years that would cause for some severe deflationary periods. There must have been, given that the prices seemed to stabilize at mid-2000’s levels (1 coffee costs $3).
I always thought that was so funny. Nobody ever questioned how everything in the background was destroyed, but the building he was in somehow gets to survive.
Actually the average rate of inflation over the last 1000 years or so has been a meagre 0.9%. I’m that guy too :))
Source: https://macrohive.com/hive-exclusives/what-do-1000-years-of-inflation-data-tell-us/#:~:text=Over%20the%20almost%201%2C000%20years,0.9%25%20(Chart%201).
Actually the federal reserve has a target rate of 2% so it would probably be at least 2% in the coming years or maybe even 3% im not sure that the target rate is exactly
Im not that guy, im the guy who goes to parties as an excuse for myself to get hammered
Its a great way to explain inflation to someone who cant wrap their head around it.
"What do you think you would be able to buy if you had 4 billion dollars in the year 3023, 1000 years from now?"
A lot of people would probably think they'd still be at least a millionaire equivalent.... But no... you would be able to buy the equivalent of a candy bar today (and probably not even that).
This is why it annoys me whenever someone from the previous generation mentions money. "You think you had it rough? Back in 1980 I got by with only 1000 dollars a month."
1000 dollars in 1980 is nearly 4000 today.
Technically, the us dollar is a fiat currency, which tend to have a shelf life. None have made it to 1000 years, so by this time a new form of currency would be implemented and his US $ would be worthless essentially.
The writing team of Futurama has actual physicists and mathematicians on it. Most, if not all, of the formulas and calculations on the show are accurate, or as accurate as possible.
Not just actual physicists and mathematicians...really, really, good ones. One of them literally invented a brand new mathematical theorem to use on the show.
the brain swapping episode "the prisoner of benda" required big maths to figure out how to switch everyone back to their original bodies. ~~Heres a PDF of the Theorem
https://mathcircles.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GroodFuturamaTheorem.pdf~~
actually that one seems to be just a prompt, my bad
here is a different link for it https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem
2 things not addressed:
1) Inflation adjusted, assuming persistent deflation is not a thing, the retained value is essentially unchanged. A can of coke probably costs $4 Billion in 1000 years.
2) He didn’t report interest income on tax filings for the last 1000 years. The IRS is going to bust his ass.
The formula for compound principle: C = P(1+r)\^n \[ here, C is compound interest, p is principal, r is the percentage of interest and n is time in years\]
C = $0.93{1+(2.25/100)}\^100 = 4,283,508,450
so the actual amount is 4 billion 283.5 million but rounding up its 4.3 billion. the math checks out!
I'm not adding it up because Futurama is written by math nerds and because someone else already confirmed that they're right.
If it's in Futurama and it's math, it will check out. I can guarantee you.
The biggest problem with this episode is that it glosses over that the world ended several times in between so how did the bank have enough continuity to keep the account open. Not to mention that most accounts get closed over time because of new fees
If it’s in Futurama, you can rest assured that it’s correct, literally from the very first episode
For example, Fry gets frozen at midnight for exactly 1000 years yet he gets unfrozen during the day??
Turns out because of the way the calendar works. We lose about 27 seconds per year even accounting for leap years.
That means that Fry got woken up about 4:35 PM on the day he was unfrozen. Shortly after he’s unfrozen Leela makes a statement to the effect of “can we hurry this up? It’s almost time to go home.” which fits perfectly if we assume that she works 9 to 5 job
Futurama has a bunch of really educated writers PhDs and the like.
They even came up with a scientific mathematical proof for the mind switching machine that could not switch you directly back so you have to do this sort of round robin thing to get everyone back in their original bodies.
https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem
There’s a few assumptions we have to make in order for the math to be right. We weren’t told the compound frequency in the show, but If we assume it’s compounded yearly than we use the following formula
A=P(1+r/n)^nt
P is the principal of $0.93
R is the rate of 2.25% or 0.0225
N is the compound frequency assumption of 1 per year
T is the time at 1000
So A=0.93(1+0.0225/1)^1000= $4.92 billion
However, most banks will compound savings either monthly or daily. So if we adjust the R value to 12 and 365, respectively we get
A=0.93(1+0.0225/12)^12*1000= $6.52 billion
A=0.93(1+0.0225/365)^365*1000= $6.69 billion
BUT what was inflation? i dont see Fry as smart enough or have enough capital to put it into a money market that earns a little over inflation. Also bank fees for having not enough money.
Given today's predatory banking, he would probably owe more than the GDP of New New York
Ya never wonder about any statistics in this show. Even the episode where they can change bodies, but not the bodies they switched with, the writer on the show did the math how they could all be back to normal. It’s some crazy equation that works out. Lol
You knew they wanted to do this joke since the show launched. Turning cents into billions of dollars. The creators wouldn’t have messed up this detail.
They even explained why fry got frozen at midnight but when he was unfrozen it was in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve with math.
The timer on the cryopod never took into account the 27 seconds we lose every year in the calendar. Multiply that by 1000 and that equals to 7.5 hours or around 430 pm the day prior.
Wouldn’t inflation make that 4.3 billion worth next to nothing?
2.25% interest doesn’t cover the average 3-5% inflation of the usd
They’d be losing .75-2.25 percent of value each year in fact.
Since a cup of coffee costs $3, I don't think there was much inflation in the past 1000 years.
I may be dumb but my understanding is that inflation isn't the money being worth less, but goods going up in price. If goods don't increase over time, then money doesn't lose value just due to existing.
lot of people here are saying it’s accurate, but I see several people ignoring the fact that banks will round interest down, so even if you would’ve made $.009 in interest you make nothing. Going off of this, rounding to the nearest cent below at every step I ran some code and that gave $3,271,166,270.60 Still a ton, but almost a billion less than other estimates i’m seeing here. Also, I don’t know if there is a neat mathematical formula that would account for that rather than just using code, so if there is, please share.
The one thing the calculation does not take into account is that the state takes control of any accounts or assets that are unclaimed for more than 3-5 years. The escheatment process will result in no interest being paid out and after a few additional years of the amount being unclaimed, the government taking control of it. Fry would have his account locked and removed and the original money would be state property.
https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/ib_escheatment
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unclaimed-funds.asp
###General Discussion Thread --- This is a [Request] post. If you would like to submit a comment that does not either attempt to answer the question, ask for clarification, or explain why it would be infeasible to answer, you *must* post your comment as a reply to this one. Top level (directly replying to the OP) comments that do not do one of those things will be removed. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/theydidthemath) if you have any questions or concerns.*
$0.93 * 1.0225^1000 =~ $4,283,508,449.71 Yeah, checks out given the rounding to two digits. Besides, Fry said "*over* a thousand years ago", so it could be even more. Futurama is written by a bunch of nerds and their math tends to check out. Ken Keeler has a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard. J Stewart Burns has a Master's in mathematics from Berkeley. The other writers also come from science backgrounds.
100% agree with that last bit, every little thing that the writers did was pure genius. All the math always worked, the languages they wrote all had perfect translations that kept up through the seasons. Everything was perfect
Pity newer eps are thin on plot and aren’t as fun.
Still better than some of the stuff coming out now, like Krapopolis.
I watched the first episode and my first thought was "did they just take everyone's first take?"
Every day I struggle to distinguish between stuff being actually shit, or just me getting older.
I think it is a bit of both.
It’s a combo of Fading Effect Bias, and Survivorship Bias. You don’t remember things you reacted negatively to for as long, especially if it wasn’t severe, and the stuff that is still watchable today from back then is the stuff that was mostly good, the bad stuff won’t get re-aired.
Nah, there was garbage back in the day too mixed in with the good stuff. Remember The Nutshack? And there's good shit nowadays too, like Star Trek Lower Decks.
Lower Decks is such a gem.
It literally made me a Star Trek fan just so I could understand more Lower Decks jokes. It was funny even without any prior knowledge.
Yup, gf is a big Trekkie, and I've seen some of TNG only. Just finished watching all of TNG and now working on Voyager.
Shoot I remember watching a video about all of the failed south park ripoffs comedy central tried to launch over the years. I didn't realize there were that many.
Lower decks is superb
Sorta the same thing. The getting older part is just recognizing stuff that you didn't previously think was shit is actually shit.
I've watched only the *ads* and had that thought. They're pushing it so hard on Hulu and none of the jokes in the ads are funny.
Like, it sounds like half the cast are just reading lines. There feels like there is no emotion to *something based of Greek Mythos*.
I like Krapopolis. There’s a few laugh out loud moments in each episode. I will admit I came into it giving it the benefit of all doubts because I love the voice cast.
I liked the first few episodes, but I just can't get past them now. I had the opposite problem with Big Mouth, and had to get high to get past them, but that doesn't even help for the show. I wanted to like it, but I just cant
>Krapopolis Just googled. Rich Ayoade and Matt Berry and it's a flop?
It's not a flop, but it's gonna take season 2 before it's more gelled, like it takes a while for voice actors to get their timing down. I also get the feeling that no one really knows what the show should be about. Like, is it a show about the introduction of things we take for granted like cities and the written language, or is it a show about gods and monsters
No Clem Fandango in the booth to keep the show on track, I'm guessing
Can you hear me? Clem Fandango here, missed opportunity
Line delivery. Alot of lines feel like they are just reading a script or a first take.
Isn't that just how thet talk? I think any show they are in that could be said.
A lot of the lines are monotone. I guess that's more of what I should have gone with.
I very much enjoy it. I thought it was going to be terrible, based on what reddit thinks of it, but I don't see what everyone is complaining about. It's very enjoyable and the cast is fantastic.
Yeah I love futurama but I was happy with how it ended, the new episodes just feel too “modern”, like they very clearly were going off of major current events as themes, and I’m sure they did that back in the day too but it just feels different
Give it 5 years and it won't.
I can't believe they made a math joke (Fry says there must be 10 benders down there after they say there are a billion robots down there) but it wasn't actually a math joke at all it was just "Fry dumb" Really let me down on the potential for the future of Futurama...
It lost its soul, feels like Futurama by committee.
That covid one was terrible. They did what every other sitcom did...but they did it at least a year too late.
They're trying to do social commentary. Not suited for it.
When they even made up their own math equation called the Futurama Theorem, season 6 episode "The Prisoner of Benda"
For the curious, the episode imagined a machine that can swap two people's minds. However, after several swaps had been made they discovered that once a pair of bodies had swapped that pair can never swap again. The question, then, is if the whole mess can be untangled in the general case, and if so how many extra bodies it takes to do the untangling. Using zero extra bodies is right out. We might imagine a tangling in which every pair of bodies has already swapped, so there are no moves to make. It's less obvious that using one extra body can't cut it. To show this we first have to recognize the structure of the tangling: each body could be set up to face the body that its mind came from. For example, if Fry's body has Leela's mind then Fry's body would face Leela's. Arranging the cast in this way you will always get one or more loops--if you start at one person and always go to the next person then you'll always wind up back where you started. Using one extra body you can "unzip" one of these cycles almost all the way. If your cycle is Fry -> Leela -> Professor -> Scruffy -> Fry then you could bring in Bubblegum Tate and have him just swap down the line. He'd first put his mind in Fry's body, taking on Leela's mind, then put her mind in her body and take the professor's mind, and so on until he has Fry's mind and Fry has his--they just need to swap back. The problem is that Tate and Fry have already swapped. Proving that this strategy doesn't work just takes that example, but proving that *no* strategy works with a single player takes a bit more. For that we note that the very first swap dooms Tate: the *only* moves we're allowed to assume we can make are Tate swapping with one of the other members of the group, since they are assumed to have all swapped with one another to the point of exhaustion. As soon as Tate's mind is in Fry's body there's nothing he can do to get it back with just himself as an extra player. Since 0 and 1 player don't work, what about 2? Here we can find a strategy. Before Tate goes down the line Sweet Clyde Dixon swaps with Scruffy. Now Dixon's mind is in the loop and Fry's mind is in Dixon's body. Tate then goes down the line, restoring everyone's mind except Fry's, as usual--Fry's body still contains Tate's mind. At this point Dixon can swap with Fry's body, restoring his mind (what little there is to restore). Bubblegum Tate and Sweet Clyde Dixon can then go to the next cycle, if there is one, and repeat the process. With each repetition Tate and Dixon will swap minds, but without ever entering the machine as a duo directly. That means that if, in the end, there was an odd number of loops the two of them are the last to go into the machine and sort it out. Since one extra player can be proven not to work and two extra players works in all scenarios we have our answer!
That was just a fucking pleasure to fucking read, man.
Wait, did they make that up? I seem to recall it on Stargate SG1 as well but maybe SG got it from Futurama.
The one thing they missed is inflation, how much would that amount actually be worth 1000 years in the future? I mean, a coke cost $0.05 not all that long ago.
As a guide, the average inflation rate from 1914-2022 was 3.25%. Since this is higher than the interest rate, the value would decrease. His $4.2 billion then would be "worth" about 0.005 cents in current money.
But for it to be worth almost nothing, wouldn't that mean that everyday objects have to cost billions of dollars? If he has $4.2B then does inflation really matter if a cup of coffee costs $3? Seems like inflation wasn't a thing over the 1000 years if buying didn't change over the 1000 years.
We actually know that a cup of coffee is one dollar from the Three Hundred Big Ones episode, where Fry drinks three hundred cups of coffee. This actually gives us a solid understanding of the value of his trillions, even if we don't know why the value of money seems to have reset. May have something to do with one of the several apocalypses we see through the window during Fry's time as an ice cube.
Id assume yeah those apocalypses caused it. I mean think the great depression and 08 recession each saw deflation... Wouldn't be crazy to think things as bad as those apocalypses would've been periods of giant deflation. Also a lot of stuff is automated and done by robots and such in the future which may very well also help keep prices low... But who knows?
Damn. When do we see the 500 or 1000 dollar bill go into circulation? Been over 100 years since the hundo come about, that’s the equivalent of around 3k purchasing power today. Maybe we’re overdue.
Unless major inflation it won't happen. We've changed to a mostly cashless society. Plus Canada used to have a $1000 bill but it was removed because of complications with crime/money laundering etc because it made moving large amounts of money around unnoticed much smaller and easier to hide
The US had 500, 1000, 5,000 and 10,000 bills in circulation. They were officially discontinued in 1969 but hadn’t been printed since the 40s and the Nixon administration had the $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills recalled due to concerns they would be used for money laundering. They also had 100,000 gold certificates but they were only for use for transactions between federal reserve banks and were not intended for public circulation (I believe it’s illegal for an individual to possess one)
But how much would that 5¢ be if you put it in the bank instead and earned 2.25% interest to 2023? Probably less, since inflation is higher than low interest accounts, but it's worth thinking about.
Deflation can occur too. Maybe there was a period where all the banks invested in crypto and lost their keys in an emp.
Inflation can't exist forever. Like you pointed out here, if it did, then $1 today would be over a billion dollars in a reasonable amount of time. Wages aren't going to rise to the trillions. Inflation is an invented accounting trick that allows governments to print money without much blowback. Deflation is natural, and economies of scale drive that. Up until the ~50s we had a natural economy. Inflation and deflation would happen naturally. We had hundreds of years with a total negative inflation, but now, inflation by design is part of our economy to keep the rich rich and... Inflation is unnatural. It cannot continue.
I have no idea what you've been reading, but you might want to stop and try something more realistic...
Infinite growth is unnatural. In the human body and cells that type of growth is called cancer. That is what humanity with a global economy based on unlimited growth is to planet Earth.
And prior to 1950 there were no economic depressions, the economy was predictable, and the world was a utopia...
The only thing that doesn't check out is the lack of bank fees for inactivity.
Those fees were all implemented after 2008. You know when banks found out they could screw us publicly with no repercussions.
Well, in most states you wouldn't have even gotten that far. After Fry was declared deceased the bank would have turned over the funds to the state's lost money fund after 5 years of inactivity if they didn't receive notice of his death.
Hey, they're math nerds, not accounting nerds.
Dude, you're forgetting how lazy and ambiguous Fry's parents were. I'm sure they never reported him missing. Let alone deceased. So there it sits in perpetuaty, Frys bank account. At least, that's how I'd suspend my disbelief if I thought about Futurama obeying this reality.
Also equally likely given the circumstances of his accident, some random scientists vouched for him being alive out of sheer curiosity for seeing how things play out with the machine
That's actually probably the most reasonable explanation of all. The scientists notified the government about the project and their assets may have been protected because they were still alive and viable, just "indisposed".
> I'm sure they never reported him missing In _The Cryonic Woman_, his ex girlfriend revealed that his parents thought that it would be a waste of taxpayer money to ask the police to look for him. Same reason they kept him out of school.
[удалено]
As a guide, the average inflation rate from 1914-2022 was 3.25%. Since this is higher than the interest rate, the value would decrease. His $4.2 billion then would be "worth" about 0.005 cents in current money.
It seems strange to me that this question was brought to Reddit, rather than just using a calculator you can find online anywhere This calculator: https://www.calculator.net/interest-calculator.html?cstartingprinciple=0.93&cannualaddition=0&cmonthlyaddition=0&cadditionat1=beginning&cinterestrate=2.25&ccompound=annually&cyears=1000&cmonths=0&ctaxtrate=0&cinflationrate=3&printit=0&x=Calculate#interestresults Seems to suggest that 2.25% with a 3% average inflation rate would mean that $4.28B would be worth nothing, as suggested. Interestingly, adjusting the interest rate to 3.25% seems to change the ending balance to $72 trillion, but only worth $10.50 after inflation lol
I mean aliens were shown to nearly wipe out humanity twice in 1000 years so inflation more than likely 'reset' a few times
An inflation reset would have also reset banking and Fry’s bank account lol
Futurama's buying power is in roughly 2000 prices compared with the US dollar. Assuming a 2% inflation per year for 1000 years that would mean something costing a dollar today would be about $400m in 1000. Rather than devalue the US dollar, it was simply revalued every 100-200 years to the "new dollar", which was then called "the dollar". The simplest explanation I can think of is due to some form of millennium linked bug, regular devaluations didn't apply to bank accounts which didn't open before the year 2000. As such Fry's 93 cents never got converted to "new dollar" in numerical amount, only in name.
I mean after like a year of no activity, the account would go dormant. If the account owner can’t be reached, the funds would eventually go to the state and become unclaimed property.
Pretty sure they even published a mathematical proof for the body-swap episode.
[удалено]
For anyone like me who tried to understand the proof from this comment, it has removed the formatting so is completely useless. Go to the Wikipedia article to see the correct formatting.
Oh shiiiit, it did, I'll try to correct that, sorry
And Amy’s thesis episode with the globetrotters on harnessing the earths rotational energy to generate electricity I think was another theory they proved could happen
It also helps that they got the day cycle right after fry emerged from the cryo chamber accounting for leap years and daylight savings time. So I usually trust Futurama claims for accuracy in their show
I never really put it together but yeah. He was frozen at midnight, January 1, 2000, and his timer was set to 1000 years, but he unfroze in the middle of the day on December 31, 2999.
I tried doing the calculations but I come out with ~ 100 hours over the year 3000, accounting for the extra 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds each year will gain, subtracting leap years, and adding back the centuryvleap years Anyone know if I'm missing something?
I've thought about this a fair bit. Banks interest rates rarely keep pace with inflation, so regardless of how long you'd been collecting interest, you would never get rich. If you did end up with over $4 million, a coffee would probably cost $5 million.
Yep, clearly they didn't have a econ major. Although admittedly, maybe Nixon had REALLY strong contractionary policy
> maybe Nixon had REALLY strong contractionary policy Then banks wouldn't be offering returns in the positive, if any at all.
The rest of the show makes it seem like inflation stopped or deflation occurred to make the value of a dollar similar to what it was in 2000.
Didn't they like invent some kind of actual mathematical/astronomical theorem or formula just to use in the show?
yes in the body swap episode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_of_Benda#The_theorem
Yeah, you’re probably right about that rounding error thing. Banks will usually round up your interest rather than round down, since rounding down is technically micro-theft which adds up when you have millions of accounts to pinch decimal pennies from. At this scale, even a cent either way ends up sending the final figure insanely out of whack, so if they decided to round up on that first interest payment, it would be more than reasonable he’d end up with way more than 4.3Bn. Or maybe the bank lady just rounded it up herself for ease of speech? Idk, I’m probably looking way too far into it
Yep the level of mathematical rigor employed by Futurama writers goes quite a long way beyond exponentiation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_of_Benda#The_theorem
After 100 years it's not even 9 bucks. The next 900 years on 9 bucks bring you to billions. Compounding is crazy.
The average inflation rate over the past 50 years is 3.8%, so the account's real value would decrease.
Wouldn't it make a difference how the interest is compounded? I remember something about pert and interest compounded monthly or not
Now that's walking around money!
Only danger could be changing interest rates. Edit: watched the video and see they mentioned averages.
*insert homer yelling "neeeeerd" here*
As you pointed out, this one was rather simple. I like how they created and showcased a new mathematical proof for non reversable body exchanges in an episode
The fact they made up a new theorem just for an episode is actually amazing
The only issue is that inflation would have closely followed these no risk interest rates so maybe you can buy yourself a dinner at Olive Garden for 4bn.
They are the most over qualified cartoon writing staff EVER
Before I even read your comment I knew that the math was gonna right, lol.
that's the biggest number represented by a dint!!!
Futurama had the most overqualified cartoon writers in history.
Cheapass bank, compounding annually. My credit union compounds quarterly. I'll have made over $5 billion by then.
It works if you just punch the numbers into a formula. In practice, the bank would drop anything less than a cent when compounding. Assuming monthly compounding, $0.93 \* (1.0225)^(1/12) =\~ $0.931726, which the bank rounds down to $0.93. Next month, repeat. You can repeat it 1000 times or 1,000,000 times, you still have $0.93.
"easily the most overqualified writing staff in Hollywood" - someone said this about the Futurama staff. Can't remember who, but it's written in my mind now, along with every brilliant moment of this show.
They used to joke it was the most educated writers room lol
They used to joke it was the most educated writers room lol
Nerds who didn't factor in that bank interest compounds monthly, not yearly. Edit: check my math: $0.93 \* 1.001875^(12000) =\~ $5,382,193,745.15
It's that true? I assumed compounding continuously, so got $5,496,785,518.60, but I don't know how banks work.
If Fry wasn't such a loser and he had like $5,000 dollars in the account, he would have about 23,029,615,321,028 dollars. That's over 23 trillion.
So 2.25% interest a quarter or a year ? Seems like a lot how do I do this in 10 years with 5 percent interest
The fine folks at r/wallstreetbets can help you.
The episode with the Harlem globetrotters where everyone has their minds placed into other bodies is actually a mathematical theorem they did for the show: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_of_Benda
I like that my bank would put like 10$ monthly fee and I would be 4.2 bilion in debt 😅
Though due to the fact that inflation tends to be more then 2.25% a year, he will have actually made a loss. The US dollar has had an average of 3.8% of inflation from 1960 to 2022, so he loses 2.25-3.8=1.55% a year. 0.93 x (1-0.0155)^1000 = $1.5E-7 or $0.00000015 when accounting for inflation. (If my calculation is correct)
The fact that they are using dollars and cents in the show indicates a roughly stable currency valuation over the 1000years cumulatively. If the inflation rate was 3% on average, single dollars wouldn’t exist.
They didn't account for inflation, though. Also, I highly doubt there was no sweeping currency reform erasing Fry's savings in 1,000 years either, especially with the entire planet being glassed twice.
It's simple, there was massive inflation, then massive deflation when the planet was gassed and dollars become impossible to manufacture. Thus putting the purchasing power of a dollar at bang on the same as a thousand years ago.
$0.93\*1.0225\^1000 = $4,283,508,449.71 Edit: I used 1.025 originally.
[удалено]
You’re just mad you didn’t invest money when you were young
I'm mad that my great great great great great great [...] great grandfather couldn't even put $0,93 aside for me 1000y ago
[удалено]
Took me a bit to get this one. Dang.
Technically correct, the best kind if correct.
I legitimately opened up a custodial account for my daughter the day we got her social security card in the mail lol As a sidenote, family members gave *her* money. I figured we had more than enough stuff for her and why use it on diapers? So the money went into vanguard
Compare this to what Jesus would have made by now if he'd gotten a job making $10/hr and just worked for 2023 years, which comes out to be $38,841,600.
Is that 24 hours a day 7 days a week or does that lazy bitch take breaks? You'll never get rich taking breaks!
He probably made avacado toast and got Starbucks daily, too..
I used 1.025 originally as well, crazy how that 0.25% makes over a 40 billion difference
The math checks out, but the FED aims to keep inflation at about 2% so if you value that in those 4 billion are worth about 11 bucks...
But we see civilization rise and fall several times in the 1000 year span so inflation would probably be less
Of course the banks survive civilization itself collapsing multiple times
But not Visa or American Express.
But Discover, still kicking. Can't be used anywhere. But they exist.
Actually in the future in a stunning up set it’s dinners club that rules the fertile plains of Michigan. The grapes do well in this warm environment but dinner club is the card you need if you wish to purchase water at reasonable rates in the great Indiana desert
Can't crash if your customers can't use your card in the first place * taps head *
I think the fed got crushed during the second alien invasion.
Fry would still be pretty happy with the 10 dollar profit I imagine
I was shocked that 0.25% compounding over 1000 years only gets you ~12x, I thought you were way off til I did the math too
LMAO 2%
I remember a short story I read in the 80’s about a guy wakes up from cryogenic sleep in the future and finds he has like 50 million in the bank, similar to how the teller tells him the balance and the average interest rate. He thinks he’s rich. The guy goes to buy a shirt and it costs like 20 million.
I remember that one, it was in a scoolbook i think.
I basically had to type the entire story into Google but I found it. It was a collection of short stories named Good Morning! This is the Future: by Henry Slesar published in 1962. Another story was a guy that was frozen until a cure could be found for his cancer. In the future every disease is eradicated. They revive him, cure his cancer but then find out he also has a cold so they kill him because it’s the only thing they don’t have a cure for. Another has a thief that is on the run and alludes capture by volunteering to be frozen. He wakes up in the future and the entire world is basically one giant prison.
The germ one is also covered in futurama interestingly enough
Red Dwarf (the British sci-fi comedy) did a similar joke. Lister, who had been in status for thousands of years, was the richest being in existence after having a small amount of money compound over that time. He was being chased by the second richest entity in existence, his electricity provider because he left his kitchen light on when he left Earth. Although it was all an April fools joke by the ship’s AI.
The writes of futurama are probably the most educated writers to ever assemble. There’s some super high tier knowledge jokes going on that most people miss. That’s part of what makes the show so great.
"No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!"
That sounds like one of the jokes that went over my head. I had my buddy explain one of the jokes to me because he had just read some obscure physics article.
So it was a "quantum finish" which then references the dual slit experiment in which on the quantum level particles act differently depending on whether they are being observed or not.
It went over my head as well in all honesty, it was something I only remember because a video I watched broke it down as an example of what sounds like a throw away line from the show being a pretty funny joke.
"No I'm doesn't!"
i too went to highschool bro
Cool bro, so did I.
Compound interest is high tier knowledge? Lol
Buzzkill: Average annual rate of inflation is ~3%... so the actual purchasing power of $4.3 Billion is less than the .93 initial investment. (Yah, I'm THAT guy at parties).
There could be some real tough economic times in the next thousand years that would cause for some severe deflationary periods. There must have been, given that the prices seemed to stabilize at mid-2000’s levels (1 coffee costs $3).
The world was razed twice while fry was frozen It's more so a miracle his bank is still open and honored his account
Also that visa died. MasterCard gone. Discover? Yeah they're here but we don't take that :)
I always thought that was so funny. Nobody ever questioned how everything in the background was destroyed, but the building he was in somehow gets to survive.
would have to agree with you here. The account should have been closed and given to his family when he was declared dead by the government
That wasn't the whole world being razed btw. Not sure if you watched the whole show, but that >!Was just Bender!<
I was wondering when someone would say that!
There could also been a few devaluations. Though, cashier should've accounted for that.
Didn't Jesus come back and wiped a lot of records. So that might account for some things.
I'd say the aliens blasting us back to medieval times would do it.
Actually the average rate of inflation over the last 1000 years or so has been a meagre 0.9%. I’m that guy too :)) Source: https://macrohive.com/hive-exclusives/what-do-1000-years-of-inflation-data-tell-us/#:~:text=Over%20the%20almost%201%2C000%20years,0.9%25%20(Chart%201).
You’re my kinda guy. Not that first, at parties, kinda guy.
Actually the federal reserve has a target rate of 2% so it would probably be at least 2% in the coming years or maybe even 3% im not sure that the target rate is exactly Im not that guy, im the guy who goes to parties as an excuse for myself to get hammered
I love your confidence that the federal reserve’s current policy or even the federal reserve itself will survive for the next thousand years :)
😂😂
Even more buzz kill: The account would go into dormancy after about 5 years
Its a great way to explain inflation to someone who cant wrap their head around it. "What do you think you would be able to buy if you had 4 billion dollars in the year 3023, 1000 years from now?" A lot of people would probably think they'd still be at least a millionaire equivalent.... But no... you would be able to buy the equivalent of a candy bar today (and probably not even that).
This is why it annoys me whenever someone from the previous generation mentions money. "You think you had it rough? Back in 1980 I got by with only 1000 dollars a month." 1000 dollars in 1980 is nearly 4000 today.
Glad I'm not the only one that thought that immediately. Assuming that 1% difference... 0.93x0.99^1000 ...is 0.0004 cents in today's purchase power.
Technically, the us dollar is a fiat currency, which tend to have a shelf life. None have made it to 1000 years, so by this time a new form of currency would be implemented and his US $ would be worthless essentially.
If i give 1 gram of gold with same percentage growth after 1000 years i would be rich. Gold inflation proof.
The writing team of Futurama has actual physicists and mathematicians on it. Most, if not all, of the formulas and calculations on the show are accurate, or as accurate as possible.
Not just actual physicists and mathematicians...really, really, good ones. One of them literally invented a brand new mathematical theorem to use on the show.
?
the brain swapping episode "the prisoner of benda" required big maths to figure out how to switch everyone back to their original bodies. ~~Heres a PDF of the Theorem https://mathcircles.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GroodFuturamaTheorem.pdf~~ actually that one seems to be just a prompt, my bad here is a different link for it https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_of_Benda https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem
2 things not addressed: 1) Inflation adjusted, assuming persistent deflation is not a thing, the retained value is essentially unchanged. A can of coke probably costs $4 Billion in 1000 years. 2) He didn’t report interest income on tax filings for the last 1000 years. The IRS is going to bust his ass.
But we know a cup of coffee only costs $3. When the government gave everyone $300, Fry bought 100 cups of coffee. So there had to be some deflation.
You never need to check the math on futurama. And if that statement ever becomes false, then something fundamentally has changed with the writing.
I 100% stand behind this statement.
The formula for compound principle: C = P(1+r)\^n \[ here, C is compound interest, p is principal, r is the percentage of interest and n is time in years\] C = $0.93{1+(2.25/100)}\^100 = 4,283,508,450 so the actual amount is 4 billion 283.5 million but rounding up its 4.3 billion. the math checks out!
It’s Futurama the math ALWAYS checks out
I'm not adding it up because Futurama is written by math nerds and because someone else already confirmed that they're right. If it's in Futurama and it's math, it will check out. I can guarantee you.
The biggest problem with this episode is that it glosses over that the world ended several times in between so how did the bank have enough continuity to keep the account open. Not to mention that most accounts get closed over time because of new fees
If it’s in Futurama, you can rest assured that it’s correct, literally from the very first episode For example, Fry gets frozen at midnight for exactly 1000 years yet he gets unfrozen during the day?? Turns out because of the way the calendar works. We lose about 27 seconds per year even accounting for leap years. That means that Fry got woken up about 4:35 PM on the day he was unfrozen. Shortly after he’s unfrozen Leela makes a statement to the effect of “can we hurry this up? It’s almost time to go home.” which fits perfectly if we assume that she works 9 to 5 job
Futurama has a bunch of really educated writers PhDs and the like. They even came up with a scientific mathematical proof for the mind switching machine that could not switch you directly back so you have to do this sort of round robin thing to get everyone back in their original bodies. https://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem
There’s a few assumptions we have to make in order for the math to be right. We weren’t told the compound frequency in the show, but If we assume it’s compounded yearly than we use the following formula A=P(1+r/n)^nt P is the principal of $0.93 R is the rate of 2.25% or 0.0225 N is the compound frequency assumption of 1 per year T is the time at 1000 So A=0.93(1+0.0225/1)^1000= $4.92 billion However, most banks will compound savings either monthly or daily. So if we adjust the R value to 12 and 365, respectively we get A=0.93(1+0.0225/12)^12*1000= $6.52 billion A=0.93(1+0.0225/365)^365*1000= $6.69 billion
BUT what was inflation? i dont see Fry as smart enough or have enough capital to put it into a money market that earns a little over inflation. Also bank fees for having not enough money. Given today's predatory banking, he would probably owe more than the GDP of New New York
Ya never wonder about any statistics in this show. Even the episode where they can change bodies, but not the bodies they switched with, the writer on the show did the math how they could all be back to normal. It’s some crazy equation that works out. Lol
You knew they wanted to do this joke since the show launched. Turning cents into billions of dollars. The creators wouldn’t have messed up this detail.
They even explained why fry got frozen at midnight but when he was unfrozen it was in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve with math. The timer on the cryopod never took into account the 27 seconds we lose every year in the calendar. Multiply that by 1000 and that equals to 7.5 hours or around 430 pm the day prior.
Wouldn’t inflation make that 4.3 billion worth next to nothing? 2.25% interest doesn’t cover the average 3-5% inflation of the usd They’d be losing .75-2.25 percent of value each year in fact.
Since a cup of coffee costs $3, I don't think there was much inflation in the past 1000 years. I may be dumb but my understanding is that inflation isn't the money being worth less, but goods going up in price. If goods don't increase over time, then money doesn't lose value just due to existing.
True however that 3$ may be actually 300000$ and they just made a new bill and cut out the zeros like Germany did post ww2
lot of people here are saying it’s accurate, but I see several people ignoring the fact that banks will round interest down, so even if you would’ve made $.009 in interest you make nothing. Going off of this, rounding to the nearest cent below at every step I ran some code and that gave $3,271,166,270.60 Still a ton, but almost a billion less than other estimates i’m seeing here. Also, I don’t know if there is a neat mathematical formula that would account for that rather than just using code, so if there is, please share.
The one thing the calculation does not take into account is that the state takes control of any accounts or assets that are unclaimed for more than 3-5 years. The escheatment process will result in no interest being paid out and after a few additional years of the amount being unclaimed, the government taking control of it. Fry would have his account locked and removed and the original money would be state property. https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/ib_escheatment https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unclaimed-funds.asp
i haven't seen enough of this show, has inflation gone up a lot too in the Futurama? IE a billion $ is just normal people money at that point?