|
 |
||
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
||
|
Tip
Sheet: Business, Law & Economics Tip sheets highlight timely news and events at Washington University in St. Louis. For more information on any of the stories below or for assistance in arranging interviews, please see the contact information listed with each story. For comments on the Business, Law & Economics news tips service, please contact the editor, Robert Batterson at (314) 935-5202 or batterson@olin.wustl.edu. From refinancing a mortgage to planning your retirement, there's an online calculator to help, thanks to Mr. Chou Media assistance: Tony Fitzpatrick - (314) 935-5272 Source: Hugh Chou's Web page - (314) 935-4012 Related: Washington University in St. Louis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences [St. Louis, Mo., February 2003] - Winter is a cold, calculating time. Whatever it is you intend to calculate this winter, from refinancing your mortgage to figuring out how long your savings will last during retirement, it will help to find Hugh Chou, system and network administrator at Washington University in St. Louis, on the Internet. That's because Chou has on his Web site a whopping 45 different calculators.
Chou started making his Internet calculators in 1995 when the Washington University Institute of Biomedical Computing wanted to test its new Web site and he was asked to provide content. He left Washington University to work in industry in 1997 and moved the site to www.interest.com, and then last year, upon returning to Washington University's earth and planetary sciences department in Arts & Sciences, he launched hughchou.org. He kept adding one calculator after another until the total reached the current 45. Chou is an inveterate calculating person. "I am always calculating things," he says. "In my previous job, I liked to calculate how much salary was lost in boring budget-planning or 'goals' meetings. Fifteen people at an average of $20 per hour, plus 50 percent for overhead and benefits for two hours. Or, I'd calculate things like the total length of the hair of meeting participants." The calculator descriptions are marked by Chou's effervescent personality. Of his Roth IRA Conversion Calculator, he writes: "My version, and I don't even sell my own mutual funds!" Of his Tuition Savings Calculator: "I'm an underpaid academic wage slave, but at least I get free tuition for my kids! It's frightening to think how much it would cost otherwise."
There is beauty in simplicity, too. Chou has a calculator that does monthly compounding on a fixed rate and also factors in contributions; the Retirement Payout Calculator shows the fixed payout of an annuity "in a perfect world," Chou writes. "It takes anywhere from a few hours to many days to develop a calculator," Chou says. "And a number of them are subject to changes along the way. People will point out that some aspect or another is not quite right, and so I'll tweak them here and there." He estimates that he gets three or four suggestions a week, and he might actually do one or two of them. He also gets roughly a half-dozen messages weekly from Internet fans thanking him for his service. He tries to answer each e-mail but admits he can't always keep up. Chou takes donations for helping folks with special calculating requests in cyberspace. He then gives the donations to various favorite charities, including Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House and the Christian Children's Fund. Are you ready? Go to http://www.hughchou.org/calc/. |
|
News & Information Home | Office of Public Affairs | WUSTL Home
Please contact us and let us know how we can assist you. Technical problems with this Web site? Please contact news_bugs@aismail.wustl.edu. Please review the WUSTL News & Information copyright/privacy policy.
|