Ratio for a good life exposed as ‘nonsense’

Highly touted measure of emotional health criticized as math disaster

FLUID HAPPINESS  Edward Lorenz was studying fluid dynamics 50 years ago when he developed a set of equations that, when graphed, trace out an oscillating pattern that is extremely sensitive to small perturbations. The equations, which became a foundation of chaos theory, were improperly applied in 2005 to research on happiness.

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A 52-year-old, part-time graduate student with no previous training in psychology and little math education beyond high school has knocked a celebrated measure of the emotional mix needed to live well off its mathematical pedestal.