[Mac_crypto] Math error...

[R. A. Hettinga]

--- begin forwarded text


Status:  U
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 00:24:11 -0400
To: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>
From: "Ronald L. Rivest" <rivest@mit.edu>
Subject: Math error...

OK, OK, a credit card company charging a 25 cent fee
on a 5 cent micropayment is actually charging a 500 percent fee
not 400 percent...  Sometimes higher math eludes me...

         Cheers,
         Ron

At 10:53 PM 9/23/2003, you wrote:

>--- begin forwarded text
>
>
>Status:  U
>Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 22:51:37 -0400
>To: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>
>From: "Ronald L. Rivest" <rivest@mit.edu>
>Subject: Peppercoin fee structure...
>Cc: Adam L Beberg <beberg@mithral.com>
>
>Hi Bob --
>
>You forwarded a posting from some "Adam L Beberg" regarding
>Peppercoin that needs correction.  Adam compares the percentage
>fee charged by Peppercoin (e.g. 7-8 percent) against what the
>credit card companies charge (e.g. 2-5 percent), and makes some
>childish and rude comments about Peppercoin in conclusion.
>
>What Adam failed to understand is that Peppercoin charges no
>fixed fee whatsoever per transaction, whereas credit card
>companies typically charge 25 cents or so per transaction.
>
>Thus, for a nickel micropayment, Peppercoin charges 0.35 cents,
>while Adam's favorite credit card company charges 25 cents or more
>to process the transaction.  The credit card company is charging,
>in effect, a fee of 400 percent (that's FOUR HUNDRED PERCENT),
>compared to Peppercoin's 7 percent.
>
>Adam, your apology is accepted.
>
>          Cheers,
>          Ron Rivest
>
>
>Ronald L. Rivest
>Room 324, 200 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139
>Tel 617-253-5880, Fax 617-258-9738, Email <rivest@mit.edu>
>
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>
>
>--
>-----------------
>R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
>The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
>
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Ronald L. Rivest
Room 324, 200 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139
Tel 617-253-5880, Fax 617-258-9738, Email <rivest@mit.edu>

--- end forwarded text


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'