This is topic Cummulative Gift Totals for 12 days of Christmas in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
 
12 Partridges and Pear Trees
22 Turtle Doves
30 French Hens
36 Calling Birds
40 Golden Rings
42 Geese A'Laying
42 Swans A'Swimming
40 Maids A'Milking
36 Ladies Dancing
30 Lords A'Leaping
22 Pipers Piping
12 Drummers Drumming

The formula may be expressed as:

# items in each occurrence of gift (e.g., "5" golden rings)

multiplied by

13 minus the number of the day that the gift first appears (e.g., the 5 golden rings are first given on the 5th day)

So 5 x (13-5) = 40

Sort of takes the mystery out of it, but there you go.

It looks nice in a bar chart, by the way...
 

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Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
 
I love math geeks. I will never be one of you, but I can still love you.
 

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Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
 
Are the 12 Days like a restaurant? Can I substitute the partridges for 12 more Ladies Dancing? And forget the geese and swans, I wants me more Maids A'Milking!
 

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Posted by Grasshopper (Member # 1055) on :
 
And Natalie Cole actually has an awful rendition of this song that uses the cumulative totals.
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
The gifts in Bob and Doug McKenzie's version are a lot better, in my opinion.
 

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Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
 
Heh...for some reason, I don't see you trading in any of the above for seven packs of smokes.
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Yeah, okay, so I guess I wouldn't take the beer and smokes, but the french toast and back bacon sounds alright. And who wouldn't want five golden toques?
 

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Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
 
So, Frisco, what are you planning on doing with all those Lords A-Leaping?
 

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Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
 
Go out and buy some video cameras with Steady-Shot, that's for sure.
 

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Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
 
Personally, Jon Boy, I have no use for 22 turtlenecks.
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Oh, for crying out loud! Why don't you go register the name scrooge75, eh?
 

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Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
 
Take off, eh!

Hoser!
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Nob.
 

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Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
 
Steamroller, eh!

::steamrolls Jon Boy::
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
Oh, I have to dig up the litmus test movie thread for that one!
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Those big cons are gonna love you, eh.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
I remember how disappointed I was to learn that the 40 golden rings were ALSO birds.
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
How about how many legs are there in the song? ei, Partridges have two legs, each maid a milking has six legs etc...

Anyone up for that?
 

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Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
 
Geese rule the Earth! Run!

Hobbes
 

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Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
 
Ohh wait, did I say the Earht? I meant Chiristmas gifts. Sorry about that, here's a candy cane.

Hobbes
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
A couple of years ago I ran across a site that claimed the 12 days was written as a subversive catechism for Catholics during the persecutions in England.
 

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Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
 
It's more elegant to write out the solution as a sum of the factorials from 1! to 12! or:

f(n) = SUM(n = 1 to 12)(n!)

The (n = 1 to 12) is part of the summation notation. n! is just the factorial of whatever is (in this case the whole integers between 1 and 12, inclusive).

-Bok
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Wait—you mean that rings are actually birds? How the heck is a golden ring a bird?
 

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Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
Bok, while the sum of factorials might be more elegant, it's not correct. I believe the simplest form for the total number of items received as of day n is n(n+1)(n+2)/6.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
The first seven gifts are all birds, as in the original French version of the song (which, sadly, only survives in fragments.) The "colly birds" -- NOT "calling birds" -- are blackbirds, and the "five golden rings" refer to ring-necked pheasants.

(BTW, one fun thing about the song is that, in the original, the lyrics were meant to be somewhat fluid; in the earliest-surviving English version, the song is introduced as a traditional call-and-response parlor game, in which a singer would add a gift for the appropriate day, in the appropriate rhythm, and everyone would have to remember that gift as the song went on.)
 

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Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
 

quote:

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12 Partridges and Pear Trees
22 Turtle Doves
30 French Hens
36 Calling Birds
40 Golden Rings
42 Geese A'Laying
42 Swans A'Swimming

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