Jack disease: Jack ages at 4x the normal rate.
Benjamin Button case: Benjamin is born at age 84 and ages backward.
The question for today is:
when would it be socially acceptable for them to date? As we all know, the formula for social acceptability for dating is roughly 1/2 your age plus 7. Plugging in these details, we get:
84 – x = y
4x = z
Where
y/2 + 7 = z
is the lower bound and
z/2 +7 = y
is the upper bound. Our task is to solve for x in both cases. Starting with the lower bound, we get:
4x = y/2 + 7
4x – 7 = y/2
2(4x – 7) = y
8x – 14 = y
8x – 14 = 84 – x
9x – 14 = 84
9x = 98
x = 98/9
x = 10.888 By age 25.7 Jack looks 102.8 and Benjamin looks 58.333. So now they’ve been through middle school, high school, college, and a few years of independence together. That’s sweet: a childhood romance between an apparently 73 year old man and an apparently 43 1/2 year old. A quick check reveals that 73/2 = 36.5, which is seven less than 43 1/2. Upper bound time:
84 – x = z/2 + 7
77 – x = z/2
2(77 – x) = z
154 – 2x = z
154 – 2x = 4x
154 = 6x
154/6 = x
25.667 = x It would be the love of Jack’s life and a tragedy for Benjamin Button’s Golden years: one that might shape him well into his childhood. Suppose Jack has roughly the lifespan of Benjamin Button, who died at 84. For Jack, he’d be merely 21. Even in this scenario, they’ll get to share nearly half Jack’s life together (but only 1/8th of Benjamin Button’s). Therefore, they can have fifteen YEARS together before Jack dies, or nearly three fifths of his life… assuming he lives that long. And here you thought you’d never use algebra in real life. I bet you feel QUITE silly now!