"no number is right unless all numbers are right"
Perhaps next in importance to Reams' exhortation to "Go by the numbers" is his admonishment that we must be wary of assuming that any "right" number is actually right unless every other number in his famous array is also right. Those who heard his classroom example of 1.5 6.4/6.4 6.5C 4M 3/3 know that he was trying to point out that the other numbers appearing "right" meant little if the 4M signaled the body was still struggling to throw out dead cells.
This is probably as good a place as any to firmly rebut the idea that Reams' famous equation was an equation or anything like an equation. Actually, it is an array. An equation is designed to be solved. Much like the "body chemistry" term which crept in as another term for the true "urine pH," the term "equation" should be put to rest.
And as long as we are working on a bit of standardization, perhaps we should stop struggling so hard to write out the array to appear as an equation and instead write it this way in Century 21.
1.5 Brix 6.4 urine pH/6.4 saliva pH 6.5 salts .04 debris particles per liter 3 nitrate/3 ammonia
or simply as 1.5 6.4/6.4 6-7 .04 3/3 plus age, height, weight, race, and religion
(this format works so much better visually when emailing each other)
No doubt there are old timers who will complain bitterly, but I suspect that Reams, who did all his teaching in front of a blackboard (very conducive to the equation appearance), would concur that posting analysis results via email in a report or for consultation far favors the single line presentation when sending it around the block or around the world.
This is probably as good a place as any to firmly rebut the idea that Reams' famous equation was an equation or anything like an equation. Actually, it is an array. An equation is designed to be solved. Much like the "body chemistry" term which crept in as another term for the true "urine pH," the term "equation" should be put to rest.
And as long as we are working on a bit of standardization, perhaps we should stop struggling so hard to write out the array to appear as an equation and instead write it this way in Century 21.
1.5 Brix 6.4 urine pH/6.4 saliva pH 6.5 salts .04 debris particles per liter 3 nitrate/3 ammonia
or simply as 1.5 6.4/6.4 6-7 .04 3/3 plus age, height, weight, race, and religion
(this format works so much better visually when emailing each other)
No doubt there are old timers who will complain bitterly, but I suspect that Reams, who did all his teaching in front of a blackboard (very conducive to the equation appearance), would concur that posting analysis results via email in a report or for consultation far favors the single line presentation when sending it around the block or around the world.
