Scientific American ran an article about Harold Camping’s math to figure out that the rapture is tomorrow:

An “infallible, absolute proof” of Camping’s assertion rests on a head-spinning numerological argument about the number of days that have elapsed since Jesus was crucified. The date of the crucifixion is itself somewhat uncertain, but Camping takes it to be April 1 in 33 AD. Come May 21, 2011, Camping says, 722,500 days will have elapsed since that occurrence. And 722,500 is (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17). Those numbers are important, according to Camping, because 5 symbolizes atonement, 10 represents completeness, and 17 is for heaven.

Why does 5 symbolize atonement? Here we turn to Exodus 30:15: “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.” For those of you who prefer fractions, “half a shekel” would be 1/2 shekel; the decimally minded might favor 0.5 shekel. Camping is evidently in the latter camp; he takes this verse as evidence of 5’s association with atonement.

The figures and math get wispier from there. To quote from Family Radio’s “infallible proof”: “The number 10 or 100 (10 multiplied by 10) or 1,000 (100 multiplied by 10) signifies completeness…. The Bible speaks of [Satan] being bound 1,000 years to signify that he was bound for the completeness of God’s plan, which in actuality of time was 1,955 years.” As for 17? “God instructed Jeremiah that this purchase of [a field] for 17 shekels was done as a guarantee or demonstration that the time would come that Israel would again occupy Jerusalem. That is, people again would go to Heaven.”

Let’s assume for the moment that the numerological treatment has some merit, that 5, 10 and 17 are somehow as biblically important as Camping believes. A purely mathematical complaint is that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) is a completely arbitrary way to factor 722,500. A more concrete way to break down a large number into smaller numbers is to factor it into primes, which in the case of 722,500 yields the unique solution 2^2 x 5^4 x 17^2.

In a way I’m shocked that Scientific American would even cover this, but at least they mocked it. You can read the rest of the article here.

If you really want to delve in to crazy check out Camping’s own calculations.

For Camping and his followers, the Great Disappointment is not far off…