>>You phrased the question, with the infamous quotes, as "do the math" which is a very specific phrase. To anyone in the US that means to add things and come up with a conclusion. Not really all that much to it. I don't think anyone took it as you seriously looking for something deep. I would think that the fact that some of us took it lightly really shouldn't bother you much.
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>Arithmetic would be a better word than addition. For instance, "The bailout proposal is for $700 billion, there are 300 million Americans, do the math" -- that would be division.
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>I have no idea what Dragan was on about with differential equations, vector spaces, etc. other than probably amusing himself.

For once I was welcoming everybody else to my (former) field and offering the amenities they didn't even know existed. So if they're already "doing the math", I figured they used just an astronomically tiny fraction (!) of it, when there was so much more available - so I offered it.

So now you do the behavioral analysis :).