Really? Math?

I tried to freak myself out with an update of information. I tried fairly hard but I think I was able to sway the negative effects it could have had on me fairly efficiently. I think in the past it might have been something I would have dwelled on for a larger portion of time but I found my way of dismissing it rather quickly even if it was an odd way to do it. I couldn’t think of another so I went with it.
Since I had to recently replace my laptop I have been forced to have certain upgrades. That isn’t a bad thing. I have had the software for the newest windows office suite but never installed in on my old laptop. When I purchased this new laptop I went ahead and upgraded using the new software.
My saved book pages were converted easily to the newest upgrade and I was typing away adding more words. I came to a stopping point and before saving I did a quick spell check. I found out that this newest version has an added window right at the end of checking every misspelled word and grammar correction. It has a window that not only tells you the word count and characters, paragraphs, sentences…you’ve seen it. This newest version also has a category called…Readability.
What?…I moved a little closer to the screen. Readability! What’s this! Readability?!
It has three sub-categories under this title: Passive Sentences, Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. My document had scored numbers after each. But what does that mean?!
There was only one thing I could do. I googled it. It seems some guy named Rudolph Flesch came up with a formula back in 1948 to gauge reading ease. The higher the number scored on reading ease means the easier it is to read.
The specific mathematical formula is:
RE = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)
RE = Readability Ease
ASL = Average Sentence Length (i.e., the number of words divided by the number of sentences)
ASW = Average number of syllables per word (i.e., the number of syllables divided by the number of words
Oh great…and where did that put me? I want good readability but I thought that came from having an interesting story line. Now it’s down to a mathematical formula. I hate math! Why do you think I spend so much time on creative endeavors?!  I don't like math and here it is scoring my creativity!
So after my initial shock and I calmed myself to a mild freak out I looked at my numbers again. My passive sentences were around 2%. I thought that had to be good since that would mean I had more active sentences. There is nothing like keeping a story going and interesting than action, right? My reading ease was 78.9. Was that too high? Then my grade level was 5.5. What?! So I am writing for a 5th grader?! That can’t be too good. I had to figure out where I stood with all these new statistics. I couldn’t go on writing not knowing where my writing fell comparatively with other writers. So I did the only thing I could figure out to do.
I typed an entire chapter of the book I happened to be reading at the time into a new document. I figured I would let the software grade the bestselling author I happened to be enjoying at the time and see how the formula graded him. I know…it was a little labor intensive but my typing skills aren’t too shabby and I accomplished the task without too much delay. There might have also been a little anxiety driving me too, but well…I won’t speak to that now (maybe never).
I finished the typing assignment and pulled the scores. I found the bestselling author had 10% passive sentences…I beat him there! He had a readability ease of 73.7. That was probably a little better than my 78.9. Then on the one last sub-category he scored a 6.5. He was an entire grade level ahead of me. But it was only a 6.5 to my 5.5. I began thinking how much better could a sixth grader read than a fifth grader? Was it all that much more?
I told you it was an odd way to do this but it did seem to settle my initial freak out. I, at least, didn’t dwell in the, oh weary me; I am not worthy to write another word, land. I got myself off that island real quick and kept writing. The window comes up now every time I do a check and I've put it in its place of just a statistic where it should be.
So, if you are curious about this piece?
Its rating is…Passive sentences 3%, Flesch reading ease 78.0, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 5.2.
Interesting.  Do you think?  You old fifth grader, you.
TT