AceShowbiz -

After explaining to MTV about the possibility of releasing Linkin Park's next studio album "toward the end of the year", Mike Shinoda posted on his blog a math equation regarding when is actually the right time to drop a new effort.

He started it by pointing out that music fans have flooded his web with comments following the album delay. He wrote, "The 200+ comments and peripheral noise got me thinking: what does it all mean? I decided to figure it out. The most obvious way to create logic out of it? Algebra has always seemed very logical to me..."

"A lot of you seemed to want us to take our time in the studio, stressing that quality (Q) is more important than release date (D). Others disagreed, arguing that releasing sooner (D) should be put above the other (Q). Next, some argued that Linkin Park quality is multiplied by time (so time is 'T'). Others argued time doesn't affect the quality (no 'T'). I guessed that the soonest this year we could get an album out would be March(3). The latest this year would be December(12)..."

"So I believe that makes the equation: Q(T)/D(12) = D(3)/Q. On the left, quantity and time over the latest possible 2010 release (12th month); on the right the soonest possible release (3, meaning March) over quantity times the LP quality 'X' factor. What I really wanted to know was how much time you wanted us to take (T)."

"Balancing this equation out (and crossing the reoccurring variables)...you get T/12=3. That means T=36. So it looks like you guys figured it out for us. What you're telling us is that you want a new album out in December 2012. That gives us a ton of time. Thanks for the help, guys."