Flashback Friday: Clueless doctor sleeps through math class, reinvents calculus…and names it after herself.

Photo: flickr/kawaiikiriThis is probably a good lesson for anyone - if you're a doctor, not a mathematician (dammit Jim!), and you think you've invented a new mathematical model for something basic like finding the area under a curve, you should probably run it by a mathematician before you publish it. She'll tell you that yes, your idea of using the area of lots of tiny rectangles to approximate the overall area under the curve is a very good one. In fact, it's called the trapezoidal rule, and it's part of the Newton-Cotes formulas. As in, Isaac Newton. But nice try!A mathematical model for the determination of total area under glucose tolerance and other metabolic curves. “OBJECTIVE: To develop a mathematical model for the determination of total areas under curves from various metabolic studies. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In Tai’s Model, the total area under a curve is computed by dividing ...