Creationist mathematics

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Creationist mathematics (or more accurately, the creationist misuse of mathematics) refers to arguments using mathematical and physical formulae to argue that something is too improbable or impossible to have occurred, thus rendering the opposition's argument invalid. However, creationists who use these arguments often ignore one or more major factors, thus rendering their arguments invalid.

## Contents

* 1 Types of arguments
* 1.1 BIG NUMBERS
* 1.2 Chance
* 1.3 Failure of Factors
* 2 Examples
* 2.1 Abiogenesis
* 2.2 Speciation
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## Types of arguments[edit]

### BIG NUMBERS[edit]

One type of creationist mathematics is the use of BIG NUMBERS. The larger the number of possible options, or years it would take to occur, or types of things necessary to obtain a positive result, the better: a really high number supposedly means that the possibility of the event occurring is far too low to have occurred at all.

### Chance[edit]

Often the argument rests solely on "chance." That is, the math shows that there is such a low amount of chance that the event cannot happen, or would take far too many opportunities for the event to occur. In fact, typically the number of opportunities isn't even mentioned: the odds are given as if there was only one opportunity for a given event to happen ever.

### Failure of Factors[edit]

Often with the arguments above, the creationist tends to ignore one or more important factors. For example, arguing that the evolution of a new functional gene is too improbable, based on math that the new gene would have to result purely by random chance, ignores the factor that new functional genes form from previously functional genes. Thus, one small change in one functional gene can give rise to another new functional gene, limiting the odds against such an event to occur to much lower than their arguments claim.

Another factor often overlooked is the number of chances for an event to occur. Arguing that a new functional gene requires many changes ignores the factor that a population of organisms has thousands, if not millions or billions, of chances in one generation to attempt the random event.

## Examples[edit]

### Abiogenesis[edit]

One argument often used by creationists is that it is so improbable for abiogenesis to occur at a given point that it could not have happened by chance alone. But, setting aside for a moment any misjudgment of the probabilities involved, this ignores the fact that abiogenesis had the entire universe to happen in, and hundreds of millions of years over which to roll those dice.

For example, if someone enters a lottery with odds of one in a million, although it is unlikely that particular person will win anything, if a billion people entered the lottery it is likely that about a thousand of them would win.

Or, put in more general terms, if the probability of some event occurring in some particular place is  1 / P {\displaystyle 1/P} , then even with only  P {\displaystyle P} possible places for it to occur, the probability of it occurring in at least one place converges on  1 − 1 e ≈ 63 % {\displaystyle 1-{\frac {1}{e}}\approx 63\%} as  P {\displaystyle P} increases without bound. In reality the number of possible places is likely much higher than any constant  P {\displaystyle P} .

### Speciation[edit]

(Or, what might be called meta-speciation.) In a post discussing Johnny Hart's (of the B.C. comic strip) creationism,[citation needed] someone challenged people to answer just how long it would take a prokaryote to evolve into a eukaryote in the lab. This shines a light directly on the common approach of pretending there aren't many opportunities for said unlikely event to happen. The answer, of course, runs something like "If your lab is the size of the Earth, with conditions like on early Earth, round about 2 billion years."

## See also[edit]

* Improbable things happen
* Pseudomathematics

## References[edit]

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Articles about creationism

Types of creationism: |  Gap creationism • Day-age creationism • Old Earth creationism • Progressive creation • Hare Krishna creationism • Young Earth creationism • Intelligent design •
Evidence against a recent creation: |  Creationism and social history • Geomagnetism • Petrified forest • Radiometric dating • Carbon dating • Dendrochronology • Y-chromosomal Adam • Mitochondrial Eve • Starlight problem • Plate tectonics • Rotation of the Earth • Atmosphere of the Moon • Biogeography • K-Pg extinction event • Geologic timeline • Fossil • Transitional fossil • Fossil record • Lake Agassiz • List of transitional forms • Recent African Origin hypothesis • Punctuated equilibrium • Bird evolution • Geology • Grand Canyon • Evolution • Fossil fuel • Paleontology • History of the Earth • Evidence against a recent creation • Yellowstone • Diamond • Iron • Age of the Earth •
| Creationist claims: |  Geomagnetism • Do you want to be descended from a monkey? • Evolution and religion • Evolution and morality • C-decay • Peanut butter argument • Intelligent design and academic freedom • Science was wrong before • Science doesn't know everything • Catastrophic plate tectonics • Hydroplate theory • Lunar bukkake hypothesis • Biblical literalism • Bumblebee argument • Orchidaceae • Irreducible complexity • Leap second • Wedge Strategy • Noah's Ark • 101 evidences for a young age of the Earth and the universe • Noah's Ark sightings • Evolution conspiracy • Recession of the Moon • Rotation of the Earth • Atmosphere of the Moon • Lunar dust • Lunar radioactivity • White hole cosmology • Firmament • Evolutionism • Haji Yearam • Galactocentricity • Hanzi of Genesis • Historical and operational science • Proof of the inconsistency of arithmetic • List of creationist claims • Global flood • De-evolution • Microevolution and macroevolution • In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood • Borel's Law • Dinosaur denialism • Baraminology •
| Global flood: |  Flood geology • Noah's Ark • Noah • Lunar bukkake hypothesis • Fossil sorting by the global flood • Hydroplate theory • Global flood • Grand Canyon • Noah (film) • Epic of Gilgamesh • Didit fallacy • God's Love • Noah's Ark sightings • Haji Yearam • Lake Agassiz • Parasites during the global flood • Life and the global flood • Global flood chronology • Yellowstone • Petrified forest • Baraminology •
Intelligent design creationism: |  Falsifiability of creationism • Irreducible complexity • Cdesign proponentsists • Intelligent design and academic freedom • Argument from design • The Wonders of Creation Reveal God's Glory • Biological Information: New Perspectives • Seeking God in Science: An Atheist Defends Intelligent Design • John A. Davison • Evolution Under the Microscope: A Scientific Critique of the Theory of Evolution • Rethinking Darwin: A Vedic Study of Darwinism and Intelligent Design • Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False • Providence Lost: A Critique of Darwinism • The Darwin Myth: The Life and Lies of Charles Darwin • The Mystery of Life's Origin: Reassessing Current Theories • The Origin of Human Nature: A Zen Buddhist Looks at Evolution • Thomas Nagel • Darwinism Under The Microscope: How Recent Scientific Evidence Points To Divine Design • The End of Darwinism • Ask Darwinists • Polonium halos • Explanatory Filter • Flowers of asexually-reproducing plants • Eye • Argument from fine tuning • Argument from beauty • Argument from first cause • Flagellum • Moody Institute of Science • Intelligent design • Laryngeal nerve • Suboptimal design • Adam and Evolution: A Scientific Critique of Neo-Darwinism • Expelled: Leader's Guide • Banana argument • Vault-Co •
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|  | Answers Research Journal: |  Answers Research Journal volume 2 • Answers Research Journal volume 3 • Answers Research Journal volume 5 • Answers Research Journal volume 1 • Answers Research Journal volume 6 • Answers Research Journal volume 4 • Answers Research Journal • Answers Research Journal volume 7 • Answers Research Journal volume 8 • Answers Research Journal volume 9 • Answers Research Journal volume 10 • Answers Research Journal volume 11 • Answers Research Journal volume 12 • Answers Research Journal volume 13 • Answers Research Journal volume 14 •
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