MURPHY'S LAW

Today’s the big day it’s finally your wedding day, and nothing will come between you and your awaited moment However, nothing is going as planned As you walk down the aisle, nearing the altar, a weighty gust of wind blows your beautiful bridal hair awry While you cut the threetiered cake, you accidentally drop the first slice, and it lands frosting-side down onto the dance floor. It seems highly unlikely that these unlucky events would occur in close succession, but unfortunately, such instances are so frequent that there is a name for the phenomenon: Murphy’s Law. As we know it today, Murphy’s Law states that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong Sounds like an awfully pessimistic way of thinking, doesn’t it? Sure, we experience adverse situations every now and then and call it unlucky But, what if there was a factual explanation for some of the unfortunate happenings you’ve undergone?

Captain Edward A. Murphy developed Murphy’s Law in the 1940’s during World War II Murphy conducted Air Force experiments on the effects of rapid deceleration on pilots As he recorded his findings, he noticed that the electrodes used in every single trial were incorrectly wired Murphy duly concluded that “If there are two or more ways of doing something, and one of them can lead to catastrophe, then someone will do it ” Over time, Murphy’s Law lost its meaning, twisting into an explanation for the mishappenings of daily life and rendering Murphy himself as a victim of his own law The origins of his theory seem quite arbitrary, not at all rooted in fact However, science has proved some of the most notorious “unlucky” happenings, such as dropping books face-down or finding an odd sock

Murphy's Law of Maps

Murphy's Law of Maps is an extension of Murphy's Law, stating that “if a place you’re looking for can lie on the inconvenient parts of the map, it will" Although this theory sounds almost comical, it is nonetheless rooted in science Working in tandem with optical illusion, probability accounts for the "unluckiness" of maps Suppose on a square map, the "Murphy Zone" includes the parts of the map that are closest to the edges and down the middle At first glance, this narrow zone seems to makes up a miniscule portion of the map's area; however, any random point chosen on the map has a 50-50 chance of falling into it Despite its meager appearance, the area of Murphy's equals the area of the rest of the map This zone's deceptively small area renders it difficult for map-users to successfully

BY LIYA CHEN

pinpoint their location Murphy's Law of Maps causes the failure to consider the perimeters of the map

The common saying associated with Murphy’s Law, “if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong,” might not hold absolute truth, but that is not to say that some of Murphy’s principles are without merit Under the consideration of probability or physics, Murphy’s original theory does apply to certain instances, such as toast falling butter-face down Despite the fact that Murphy’s Law does not always apply, it nonetheless holds insightful principles that we can learn from For example, adopting Murphy's perspective on a project can help you better allocate time. If you think it would take one week to complete an assignment, the consideration of unlucky circumstances should prompt you to either work more efficiently or allot more time for completion.