Bermuda Triangle for TAN... (Page 7)

Is it dirty or frantic? 

if I talk about it then this becomes a TAS......will that be ok?

As long as you don't post a pic or LOL during your topic.   

Artemis,

You around still?  Got a good one for ya.

Yep. 

No - It has to do with the subject matter - not that there is a subject.

Ok, so think dilution factors from your bacteria class. 

We are working on probiotics (the good for you bacteria found in yogurt and a ton of other things these days).  So the numbers on these are in the millions and billions so you have to do quite a few dilutions to get to a countable range, right?  And it is all based on your initial dilution factor of say 1:10 or 1:100 right?

So a company we are working for is doing their own in house and we are getting 200-300% higher than they are on the serving size.  So we got on the phone today, with them, to talk about the method.  They are taking an entire either 7 or 15 gram pack and dumping it into 100mls of DI water.  Then doing their dilutions from there.  We were taking 1 gram or product into 100mls DI water and going from there.    Our initial dilution is 1:100.  Theirs is either 7:100 or 15:100. 

Here is where it gets fun.  She isn't taking into account the different ratios.  She is just calculating back as if it were a 1:100.  AND, when we asked her how she took into account the differences in dilutions, she said there wasn't a significant difference between the two, mathematically!!!!  Huh?!?!?!  Wha, wait WHAT?!?!?! 

So you are telling me that there is statistical difference, when weighing out samples, at 7 grams and 15 grams?!?!?!  Is this new math?!??!

So I told them to send us exactly how they calculate their dilutions, using examples of colonies on a plate and back calculating and we will compare this to how we do it. 

Seriously.  And this person is in charge of their in house lab!!!!!!!! 

HOW DO PEOPLE GET THESE POSITIONS!?!?!?!?!

yep, pretty much. 

Snerk.

WAIT Schwamm.... crowny might be about to break laws of physics here...

we might want to stand back.  Obviously we know nothing...

dillution... nope can't figure it out here.

-B 

Uh...yeah.  15:100 is close to 1:10, but that's an order of magnitude off from 1:100.  You're going to get a big difference. 

I related this to the people I work with and they all gave the  "you've got to be kidding me" look.

One suggested you ask them to define "statistical" and "difference" for you. 

Dead on.  Now, if you were to take those dilutions out further, from the 1:10, then to 1:1000, 1:100000 and 1:10000000, wouldn't you think there would be a fairly significant difference if you started at 7:100 versus 15:100?

:P