ACCOUNTANT BY DAY

Someone asked today whether they should eat bacon or eggs. The ideal choice is eggs and bacon, but if you need to pick one or the other it really depends on your relative objectives. The generally applicable objectives with respect to a given meal are taste, health/nutrition, and aesthetic pleasure.

Bacon has a taste attribute of 10 but a health attribute of 2 because of all the porkfat. It is high in protein, saving it from utter failure in terms of nutrition. Bacon is extremely aesthetically pleasing if cooked just to a crisp, but it can be difficult to do this perfectly without scorching the meat, resulting in a score of 7 on this attribute.

Eggs have a taste attribute of 6 and a health attribute of 9, at least until scientists decide again that eggs are the food equivalent of drinking toxic waste for breakfast. Eggs are also high in protein but much lower in fat than bacon, and in addition are a much more well-rounded food, nutritionally speaking. The egg has the potential to be aesthetically pleasing, depending on how it is prepared, giving it an 8 on this attribute. It is more versatile than bacon.

At this point the individual must assign their personal preferences in terms of a numerical priority figure (1, low, 10, high) to each attribute. Then multiply it by the respective food’s attribute values and compare the totals for each to determine which should be eaten.

For instance, I rate taste an importance of 10, health/nutrition an importance of 7 and aesthetics an importance of 5.

This gives bacon a score of 149 (10 x 10 = 100; 7 x 2 = 14; 5 x 7 = 35) and eggs a score of 163 (10 x 6 = 60; 7 x 9 = 63; 5 x 8 = 40). To my great surprise, even though I thought I was in the mood for bacon, I learn with the help of basic logic that I actually wanted eggs. Math doesn’t lie!