Day 96

Day 96: Brooklyn, NY

$0.15 found.

McDonald's at Wyckoff Ave. & Myrtle Ave.: $0.01

Wyckoff Ave. & Stanhope St.: $0.12

Wyckoff Ave. & Starr St.: $0.01

The 4th floor of my apartment building: $0.01

The above photo and my second find of the day at the intersection of Wyckoff Avenue and Stanhope Street brings to mind an interesting observation I have had time to develop in my head through the course of the first part of the year and that is the idea of "clustering."  Clustering, in the simplest of terms, is the idea that where there is one monetary denomination on the ground there is likely to be more.  It is a little too late for me to track this data, unfortunately, but since I began this project, I have learned to pay close attention to the areas in which I find one coin because I am more likely to find more coins nearby.  But the question is why is this true?  Is it because if someone is going to leave, or throw away, one coin they are more likely to leave multiple?  Is it a physical characteristic of the terrain that allows for similar objects to roll to a stop in nearly the same place?  Is it merely that certain more popular areas are where people are more likely to drop and discard their change?  The second idea seems a little far-fetched, but the third perhaps holds some merit.  I have no idea how to determine a percentage of likelihood for whether you might find some money in certain areas, or if you found one coin then, given that first coin, what the percentage of likelihood would be that you would find another and how that percentage changes with each coin you find.  I would calculate that into my final results at the end of the year, but I honestly have no idea where I would even begin to do so.  What I can tell you from purely empirical evidence is that you are much more likely to find one coin alone than two, and much more likely to find two than three, etc.  This observation is from looking at my previous data for the year.  Still, I find myself always slowing down and looking around the area where I find a first coin in case I might find some others.  If the chance of finding a coin at all is fairly low, finding a first coin drastically raises my chances of finding a second coin, and why not take a few seconds to look around.