The crazy equation...

Something that I came across (once more in the hours of sleep deprived stupor) that kind of blew my mind a little. I didn't understand it, perhaps a statistician could (I was never the maths girl anyway). But obviously they create a formula to decide how much funding mental health services in any particular region will recieve. I guess they have to have some way to figure it out and budget for it... but man, seeing the formulaic translation of how much help one can expect to recieve if mentally unwell, well it packs a punch!

D = a + ΣbjIj + e where D is the dependent variable of expenditure and I consists of a set of independent variables each with its own coefficient b. The other two terms are the intercept (a) and the error (e – the component not explained by the independent variables).

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/Publishing.nsf/Content/8456310414827A08CA2572060016012F/$File/need6.pdf

Tell me again that we are not just numbers?

Sorry, very tired, cranky, emotional and irrational. The gremlins are gnawing at my brain. Thats all I've got for today.