A friend recently asked on Facebook:

If a problem shared is a problem halved, then is experience shared half the experience?

A good question, worthy of some analysis.

Given that an experience is negative or positive, then a single experience has a value of -1 or +1.

Given that the more people that share the problem, the more the nett effect is dissipated, we can assume that:

nett effect = 2 ^ ( experience * ( people - 1 ) )

Which means that a negative experience shared by two people we have:

nett effect = 2 ^ ( -1 * ( 2 - 1 ) ) = 2 ^ ( -1 * 1 ) = 2 ^ -1 = 0.5

In other words, a problem shared is a problem halved.

But for a positive experience:

nett effect = 2 ^ ( 1 * ( 2 - 1 ) ) = 2 ^ ( 1 * 1 ) = 2 ^ 1 = 2

In other words, a thrill shared is a thrill doubled.

So no, an experience shared is not half the experience. An experience (of any nature) shared is 2 to the power of that experience multiplied by the number of other people experiencing it.

Want to know the nett effect of an experience? Here’s a handy calculator: