This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
As promised, here's the explanation:
A polynomial is any equation of one thing in terms of another. You may recall them from algebra class as those nasty things like 7x^3-16x^2+5x-4 and had to find the values of x for which the answer was 0. When you plot this on a graph, their shape depends on how complicated the equation is. It can be anything from a line, to a hairpin curve, to a lot of hairpins, to a roller-coaster shape (which we math people call a "sine wave"; although a sine is a particular example of something that's not a (finite) polynomial, it kind of looks like one).
Your basic polynomial is the straight line, for when the x's aren't more complicated than just plain x. From there, you get the hairpin curve (for when the equation begins with x^2), which starts at the top/bottom of the screen, dives/rises, sharply turns, and heads back up/down as you go from left to right.
If your Popularity Polynomial is a hairpin curve up, it means that you started out as cool, reached a point where you stopped being cool, then went back to cool again. Pointing the other way is just the opposite: you started out obscure, reached a peak of popularity, then went back to being a Trivial Pursuit answer.
The more stuff you throw into a polynomial, the more times you switch from "cool" to "stupid" and back. Most often, this is a sign of the Nostalgia Filter going haywire. Or, it's a sign of your personal profile jumping the shark before going a while without shaving. Repeatedly.
So that's a polynomial in a nutshell. Where you are on this Popularity Polynomial (at a peak, at a valley, or somewhere in between) varies over time.
Tanto: Junior? Really? I don't recall him ever being a particularly unpopular player, except among Mariners fans. He's always been one of those guys who gets cheered in every park.
Someone like Ted Williams or Rickey Henderson would probably work better there.
TJ Devil 02: His injury-prone nature and large contract had many Reds fans wanting to trade him to make room for Adam Dunn, as I recall. But yes, Rickey is probably a better example. Feel free to add it, of course :)
Not to sound like a stooge of The Other Wiki here, but can someone please justify this entry to me?
- The 1970s. Throughout the 80s and 90s, this decade was seen as America's Dork Age. Nowadays, it's seen as a more innocent time. Elements from the 70s seen to be making a comeback include:
- Bell-bottom jeans.
- The afro.
- The medium-length bowl cut with the fringe.
- Rollerskating.
- Disco (almost).
- Scooby Doo.
- Stoners on TV.
From where I'm sitting, and I'm completely serious, none of these things are making a comeback. Not even close.
Blayde: You must not be shopping the same stores I am, then. The Bowl cut, the Bell-bottoms, Scooby, I see it around quite a bit. See also the "Disco that Dare Not Speak Its' name" mention on the main page. Stoners and the 'fro? Jury's out on that one, IMO. And I doubt if skating will be coming back, not until they can make an entire set of blades fit in a shoe, and toss out the painful knee-high plastic things.
