Happy 3 4 5 6 7 8!

[Doctor Q]

I'm not a numerologist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerology) but I still like to look for number patterns and I enjoy finding them. One of them is formed by the date and time right now.

For those of us using American-style dates, today is 3/4/5. For those of us in the Pacific time zone, I've tried to post this when the time was 06:07:08, i.e., March 4, 2005 at 6:07:08pm, or 03/04/05 06:07:08.

I could have posted this at 06:07:08 am instead of 06:07:08 pm, so it would be correct in 24 hour time too, but I was too lazy to get up early. You can only carry these silly hobbies so far! :D

If I mistime my Submit and post this too soon or too late, I can always wait for 04/05/06 07:08:09 next year. If I'm not that patient, I can switch to European-style dates and get another chance next month on April 3 (03/04/05).

I hope you all enjoy the special occasion today, even though it doesn't have a special name like Pi Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_day) and doesn't include gifts or get you a day off work/school.

[tpjunkie]

woo hoo! Uh what? Dr. Q, do you have any habits outside this forum? :p

I'm just kidding, you're an integral part of these boards. 3/4/05 6:07:08 is upon us!

[MongoTheGeek]

Teachers stopped class on 1:23:45 on 6/7/89

[Doctor Q]

do you have any habits outside this forum?I don't understand your strange phrase. What does "outside this forum" refer to? Isn't that like saying "outside the universe"? Are you sure that you aren't just imagining, or theorizing, that such a thing exists? I've certainly never run into anything of the sort.

[Doctor Q]

For some reason, this thread from last year comes to mind today.

[wdlove]

I always enjoy your number crunching Doctor Q. It's always fascinating, thank you. I was actually thinking about to day being 03/04/05, your name also came to mind. ;)

[Mr. Anderson]

well, I missed it.....and I had thought about this day a couple months ago. Figures :D

Were any planets aligned for this event?

D

[jsw]

Were any planets aligned for this event?
Not that I know of, but Pluto continues to be maligned by those who argue that it shouldn't be considered a planet. Does that count?

[tpjunkie]

I don't understand your strange phrase. What does "outside this forum" refer to? Isn't that like saying "outside the universe"? Are you sure that you aren't just imagining, or theorizing, that such a thing exists? I've certainly never run into anything of the sort.

heehee, you're right, i just hope the drunk thread is on the front page when i come back from my adventures outside the universe tonight

[dotdotdot]

Teachers stopped class on 1:23:45 on 6/7/89

Really?

(I was born 2 years later)

[Mr. Anderson]

Not that I know of, but Pluto continues to be maligned by those who argue that it shouldn't be considered a planet. Does that count?

that's a continuing argument, so I don't think it counts. Probably won't ever be settled unless they find something bigger out in the Oort Cloud with the other balls of ice...

D

[Doctor Q]

Were any planets aligned for this event?I don't know about the planets, but there was an incident involving stars on this highly numerical day.

As I drove home from work while thinking about integer sequences (when I should have been paying attention to dodging the SUVs all around me instead), I noticed that the digits 9 8 7 were displayed on my dashboard console. I hadn't noticed before that it was a descending arithmetic progression, but I realize it often has this display. That's because it was the LCD display of my car radio, and I was listening to STAR (http://www.star987.com/main.html), frequency 98.7!

[jefhatfield]

who was around 1/1/11
2/2/22
3/3/33
4/4/44
5/5/55
6/6/66
7/7/77
8/8/88
9/9/99?

and what were you doing?

on 6/6/66, i was three years old and living in the same house i am in now
on 7/7/77, i was in middle school and a student pointed out is was all 7s
on 8/8/88, i was a salesperson at ace hardware
on 9/9/99, i was just learning to enjoy the power of os 8.1, the internet, email, and games all at home instead of at school or the library where i used to have to do my computing

[killuminati]

who was around 1/1/11
2/2/22
3/3/33
4/4/44
5/5/55
6/6/66
7/7/77
8/8/88
9/9/99?

and what were you doing?


8/8/88 - I was a thought

9/9/99 - I was 9 years old thinking of what I wanted to get for my birthday. (24th)

[MacNut]

Really?

(I was born 2 years later)Now I'm really starting to feel old since I will be 25 in a week, You missed out on a good decade when MTV actually played music. :rolleyes:
Im sure some will say I'm a youngen being only 25

[Awimoway]

Well, Doctor Q, we'll look forward to your post at 5:55.55 in two months, on 5/5/5. Another interesting date would be 7/6/5. You could post at 4:32.10. And 5/10/5 at 5:10.51. And the list goes on...

[Mechcozmo]

I don't understand your strange phrase. What does "outside this forum" refer to? Isn't that like saying "outside the universe"? Are you sure that you aren't just imagining, or theorizing, that such a thing exists? I've certainly never run into anything of the sort.

Outside of the internet is this 'real world' place. It is pretty scary. You have to know how to dodge SUVs that aim for you. The real world is like the internet, but much less pixelated too.

I haven't been there for months.

Oh, and thank's for making this a Pacific Coast friendly post (say THAT a few times fast-- Coast friendly post :)) as opposed to the main page....

Anyways, will you be posting on New Years right between 05 and 06? That second of time where everything is in a void... perfect time to post if you like numbers. What numbers would it be? Hmmm.......

[CorvusCamenarum]

How about 12:34:56 on July (7) 8th, '90?

[AmigoMac]

9/9/99 ... Got the news that I was going to be a father... first child news!

[virividox]

haha great thread :) love ur number crunching it didnt occur to me until i read this

[Doctor Q]

43
65
87

The top-right corner of this post has a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 pattern, reading right to left, if you include the post counter. You can't have much more fun that that!

If you didn't like that one, how about looking at the post number of Awimoway's post above? It's all 1s and 2s and 3s! 1311123.

Here's a game I just made up that you can play right in your own home:

Start with a number like Awimoway's post number: 1311123. Count how many 1s, how many 2s, and how many 3s, from the smallest digit present to the largest digit. Write it like this:4 1 1 2 2 3
meaning 4 ones, 1 twos, and 2 threesThen do the same with THAT number, counting the 1s, 2s, 3s, and now 4s. In each step, you count the digits and write the results, repeating until the pattern sticks on a number or encounters a value you saw before.

Continuing with our example:4 1 1 2 2 3
2 1 2 2 1 3 1 4
3 1 3 2 1 3 1 4
3 1 1 2 3 3 1 4
3 1 1 2 3 3 1 4
...
Wasn't that fun?

You are welcome to try it yourself with the number 1311001. You will find post number 1311001 above in this thread, and you might even notice that 1311001 is a 7-digit number whose digits sum to 7.1 3 1 1 0 0 1
2 0 4 1 0 2 1 3
2 0 2 1 2 2 1 3 1 4
(the rest is up to you!)
In general, will the series always eventually converge or repeat?

[Lacero]

How about 12:34:56 on July (7) 8th, '90?

I actually documented this time and year on video. As the time approached, I was able to countdown on-camera this very sequence. If I can find the grainy VHS footage, I'll post it, but then maybe not, since I was just a freckly-faced awkward teenager back then. :p

[jefhatfield]

[right]
Wasn't that fun?



uh, no ;)

you are like the old time, original computer scientists i know in silicon valley who all had their grad degrees in math and were the math for vacuum tube, stadium sized computers in the days before the math co-processor

they had their khakis, pencil protectors with pens and pencils, aluminum clipboards, and slide rules

[Otto Rehhagel]

I became 20 years old on Feb 2, 2002

OR

20 on 02/02/02

[wdlove]

4/4/44 Just about the time that my wife's brother was born.

5/5/55 I was in the second grade, with less than thirty days till school was out for the summer.

6/6/66 Had recently graduated from high school. Getting ready to start my summer job at a Funeral Home.

7/7/77 Two years off active duty Air Force. Working at the Omaha VA Hospital. Two years of ownership of our first single family home.

8/8/88 One year about three weeks ownership of our second single family home. About the time that we add central air conditioning. Also began a major renovation.

9/9/99 This was our 27th Wedding anniversary.

:)

[Doctor Q]

Some 20th century history:

1/1/11: A photo of jazz pianist/composer Scott Joplin was taken. (Image was at highbeam.com but can't be linked, so here's a similar one.)

http://www-music.duke.edu/jazz_archive/artists/joplin.scott/03/joplin.jpg

2/2/22: "Ulysses" by James Joyce was published.

3/3/33: Mount Rushmore was dedicated.

4/4/44: Charles de Gaulle became head of the French armed forces.

5/5/55: West Germany became a sovereign state as the United States, France, and Great Britain ended their military occupation.

6/6/66: James H. Meredith, the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, was shot by a sniper after beginning the "March Against Fear", a lone civil rights march through the South.

Perhaps somebody would like to fill in something interesting for 7/7/77, 8/8/88, and 9/9/99.

[stubeeef]

Had too much to drink at a frat party on 9/9/81 (square root day).

[PlaceofDis]

well this makes my poetry habit seem normal

[Blue Velvet]

Perhaps somebody would like to fill in something interesting for 7/7/77, 8/8/88, and 9/9/99.

7/7/77
• 12,000 police occupy the university in Mexico City.

8/8/88
• U.S. Sec. of State Shultz narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in Bolivia.
• U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announces a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq.
• In Burma (Myanmar) the police start their killing of nearly 3,000 protesters in the streets of Rangoon.

9/9/99
• Pres. Clinton moves to cut military ties with Indonesia and the IMF suspends its lending program due to the violence in East Timor.
• In NYC it is reported that 3 people had died from mosquito-borne St. Louis encephalitis in the last few weeks. The virus was later identified as the West Nile Virus, never before reported in the Western Hemisphere.
• In Russia an explosion shatters a 9-story apartment building in Moscow and at least 14 people are killed. A natural gas leak was suspected, but a bomb was not ruled out. The death toll moved up to 90 with 249 injured and officials said it was caused by a terrorist bomb.

[Doctor Q]

For 10, 11, and 12, we can use some upcoming dates in the 21st century:

10/10/10 - national independence holiday in Fiji and Taiwan

11/11/11 - national independence holiday in Angola and Poland

12/12/12 - national independence holiday in Kenya

[jefhatfield]

man, doc q, you really come up with the interesting ones

you should take on ken jennings on jeopardy!!

[Doctor Q]

you should take on ken jennings on jeopardy!!Only if he answers from memory, as on the show, and I get to use the Internet, as I did here! Or maybe I could challenge him to a programming contest, since he's a software engineer too.

Did you purposely use two exclamation points, one as part of the show name ("Jeopardy!") and one as the end of your sentence?

[jefhatfield]

i didn't know jeopardy had an "!" at the end of it

[PlaceofDis]

i didn't know jeopardy had an "!" at the end of it

haha, so were you trying to imitate those that are in the exlamation point thread? LoL

but yeah, for some odd reason Jeopardy has an "!" at the end of it, probably because its elitest ;)

[wdlove]

All these is very fascinating. It puts math in a whole new light. This actually makes it very interesting.

[feakbeak]

A thread about numerical series and patterns... cool!

Here is one of my favorites.

1 + 3 = 4 (2^2)
1 + 3 + 5 = 9 (3^2)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16 (4^2)

In general, summing the first n odd numbers will always give you n^2. Very cool!

[Mechcozmo]

The SciFi club at our school has a motto: "We are not geeks"

But this thread kinda disrupts my claim to that...

[feakbeak]

The SciFi club at our school has a motto: "We are not geeks"

But this thread kinda disrupts my claim to that...

You are posting to a thread about numbers/math on a computer-related forum Saturday night and claiming you are not a geek? Denial!

I'll admit to being a geek... it's not so bad. :)

[Mechcozmo]

You are posting to a thread about numbers/math on a computer-related forum Saturday night and claiming you are not a geek? Denial!

I'll admit to being a geek... it's not so bad. :)

It was Saturday?

[Doctor Q]

All these is very fascinating. It puts math in a whole new light. This actually makes it very interesting.How 'bout this beautiful pattern?

037037037037 x 03 = 111111111111
037037037037 x 06 = 222222222222
037037037037 x 09 = 333333333333
037037037037 x 12 = 444444444444
037037037037 x 15 = 555555555555
037037037037 x 18 = 666666666666
037037037037 x 21 = 777777777777
037037037037 x 24 = 888888888888
037037037037 x 27 = 999999999999

Or this one?

22 x 22
------- = 121
1+2+1

333 x 333
--------- = 12321
1+2+3+2+1

4444 x 4444
------------- = 1234321
1+2+3+4+3+2+1

55555 x 55555
----------------- = 123454321
1+2+3+4+5+4+3+2+1

666666 x 666666
--------------------- = 12345654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+5+4+3+2+1

7777777 x 7777777
------------------------- = 1234567654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+6+5+4+3+2+1

88888888 x 88888888
----------------------------- = 12345678654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1

999999999 x 999999999
--------------------------------- = 12345678987654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1

[feakbeak]

Or this one?

22 x 22
------- = 121
1+2+1

333 x 333
--------- = 12321
1+2+3+2+1

4444 x 4444
------------- = 1234321
1+2+3+4+3+2+1

55555 x 55555
----------------- = 123454321
1+2+3+4+5+4+3+2+1

666666 x 666666
--------------------- = 12345654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+5+4+3+2+1

7777777 x 7777777
------------------------- = 1234567654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+6+5+4+3+2+1

88888888 x 88888888
----------------------------- = 12345678654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1

999999999 x 999999999
--------------------------------- = 12345678987654321
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1


I really like that one. It certainly has an elegance to it. It's just interesting to see the patterns that exist within mathematics. This doesn't have to do with numbers as directly as most of these posts, but is anyone familiar with roots of unity?

Basically, it has to do with different roots of 1. If you take the square root of one, you get 1, but -1 is also a square root of 1 because -1 * -1 = 1. So there are two square roots of 1. Similarly, there are three cube roots of 1 and four quartic roots of 1, etc. Although afer the square root example, most of the roots do not fall on the real number line and instead exist on the complex plane.

These roots of unity can be plotted on the complex plane to form polygons. The three different cube roots of 1 plotted in the complex plane to form an equalateral triangle. The four quartic roots of 1 in the complex plane form a regular square, etc, etc.

In general, if you plot all of the n nth-roots of 1 in the complex plane you will always get a regular polygon of n-sides, centered around the orgin of the complex plane. All the vertices will fall on the unit circle. it is a very beautiful relationship between algebra/numerology and geometry. I wish I knew the details of how to derive some of these roots to illustrate examples, but I learned this stuff over five years ago and it's going on midnight here - not a good combination. :) I just remember the concept at this point. Maybe I can quickly find a link.

Yup, that was easy enough. Here (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RootofUnity.html) is a good page describing roots of unity. It even has a cool flash animation illustrating the concept.

[Doctor Q]

Thanks, feakbeak. At that same site there is a page (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/MathematicalArt.html) of Math Art, including animated gifs such as these ones of "whirls" created from nested polygons:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/gifs/whirl3.gif http://mathworld.wolfram.com/gifs/whirl5.gif

If you aren't prone to suffering motion discomfort, click here (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/gifs/rotsq.gif) to see the Rotating Square Illusion, where a rotating pattern appears to deform or pulsate.

[Mechcozmo]

If you aren't prone to suffering motion discomfort, click here (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/gifs/rotsq.gif) to see the Rotating Square Illusion, where a rotating pattern appears to deform or pulsate.

Guess I now know that I get motion discomfort... where is that barf smiley....


;) :rolleyes:

[jefhatfield]

If you aren't prone to suffering motion discomfort, click here (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/gifs/rotsq.gif) to see the Rotating Square Illusion, where a rotating pattern appears to deform or pulsate.

i see the rotating image but no deformation or pulsation

and those magic eye books rarely work with me

am i doing something wrong?

[Doctor Q]

i see the rotating image but no deformation or pulsation

and those magic eye books rarely work with me

am i doing something wrong?Do optical illusions usually have the expected effect on you? In this case, if the lines (particularly the outermost edges) don't appear to bend in as they turn, then you have the ability to see things as they really are! The rest of us are regularly fooled by our senses, and a visual perception expert could probably explain why.

[jefhatfield]

Do optical illusions usually have the expected effect on you? In this case, if the lines (particularly the outermost edges) don't appear to bend in as they turn, then you have the ability to see things as they really are! The rest of us are regularly fooled by our senses, and a visual perception expert could probably explain why.

there are a few cognitive things i am bad at

one are those short stories, 500 words or less, that are timed with questions concerning the text...if it's a subject i am not interested in, then i usually do bad on those types of tests...if the short story is rather long, making it a medium size story, then i do ok on them

with the magic eye, only one has fully worked with me...on some others, the image does go into 3d mode but i can't really make out the specific shape...all our brains work differently and i have met some others who don't click with the magic eye illusions

[Doctor Q]

Happy Pi Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day) to those who celebrate today's math-related holiday. Today's date of March 14 (Pi Day) should be written 3.14.

The wikipedia article mentions a related holiday I hadn't heard of before: Pi Approximation Day on July 22 (written 22/7). I'm not as interested in that holiday, since I prefer to use the more accurate 355/113 as a pi approximation using small integers.

And I'm sorry to tell you that only the unemployed get a day off work in honor of Pi Day.

[emw]

I myself am partial to the much lesser known Mole Day (http://www.moleday.org/) celebrating Avogadro's Number. :D

[SilentPanda]

And I'm sorry to tell you that only the unemployed get a day off work in honor of Pi Day.

And those that eat too much Pie.

[Doctor Q]

And those that eat too much Pie.Enjoy! (http://members.aol.com/nerbonne/cherrypi.htm)

[Peyote]

The anniv date of my wife and I is New Years Eve, or 12/31, or 1231

So in the year 2023, our anniv date will be 123123

:)

[MOFS]

A thread about numerical series and patterns... cool!

Here is one of my favorites.

1 + 3 = 4 (2^2)
1 + 3 + 5 = 9 (3^2)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16 (4^2)

In general, summing the first n odd numbers will always give you n^2. Very cool!

Actually isn't that (n+1)^2?! :D unless you count 1^2 = 1 as your first one?!

eg when n=4, it would be 1 + 3 + 5 +7 + 9 = 25 (5^2)

[emw]

Actually isn't that (n+1)^2?! :D unless you count 1^2 = 1 as your first one?!

eg when n=4, it would be 1 + 3 + 5 +7 + 9 = 25 (5^2)No, he's right. In your example, n=5, not 4, since you have 5 odd numbers, not 4.

It works even if n=1, since the first n odd numbers =1, summed =1, and equals 1^2.

[MOFS]

No, he's right. In your example, n=5, not 4, since you have 5 odd numbers, not 4.

It works even if n=1, since the first n odd numbers =1, summed =1, and equals 1^2.

Actually, retrospectively, we're both right. In my case, n would be the number in the sequence ie 1) 1 + 3 = 2^2 (2) 1 + 3 + 5 = 3^2...(n) 1 + 3 + 5 +...+nth odd number = (nth odd number+1)^2. When n=9, the square is 100.

In your example, n=the number of odd numbers in the sequence ie when there are 9 numbers in the sequence n=9 and the square = 81.

More than one way to skin a cat! And cause maths confusion... :D

[emw]

Actually, retrospectively, we're both right. In my case, n would be the number in the sequence ie 1) 1 + 3 = 2^2 (2) 1 + 3 + 5 = 3^2...(n) 1 + 3 + 5 +...+nth odd number = (nth odd number+1)^2. When n=9, the square is 100.

In your example, n=the number of odd numbers in the sequence ie when there are 9 numbers in the sequence n=9 and the square = 81.

More than one way to skin a cat! And cause maths confusion... :DAh, yes. Thinking outside the box, I see! ;)

[Doctor Q]

Happy 5/5/5 and 05/05/05 and 050505 today!

Ahhh... a peaceful day when there will be no arguing over whether dates should be shown as day-month-year or month-day-year or year-month-day.

I find it interesting that most people are happy to write days and months with either one or two digits (05/05/05 or 5/5/05), but are so used to years with two digits that they are going to spend the whole decade writing the year as 05. Why not just 5? After all, you only need the zeroes if you are going to write 2005.

[wdlove]

On our MBTA buses they list on the screen May 5, 2005 along with 5/5/5. So that they cover both angles. I was thinking about your number interest in another thread. Happy 5/5/5 to you also Doctor Q.

Sadly I missed it by one second of hitting the post at 5.5.55. :(

[Awimoway]

I find it interesting that most people are happy to write days and months with either one or two digits (05/05/05 or 5/5/05), but are so used to years with two digits that they are going to spend the whole decade writing the year as 05. Why not just 5? After all, you only need the zeroes if you are going to write 2005.

I finally broke down this January (consider it a New Year's resolution), when the days and months went back to single digits, and began writing the year in single digit. So it took me half the decade to finally capitalize on this little productivity boost. To think of all those wasteful zeroes through the years...

Tragic.

[Doctor Q]

To think of all those wasteful zeroes through the years...Maybe we could collect them all and sell them as breakfast cereal.

[zelmo]

Maybe we could collect them all and sell them as breakfast cereal.

"Honey Oatmeal Nutbran Bits and Bytes"

[TEG]

I finally broke down this January (consider it a New Year's resolution), when the days and months went back to single digits, and began writing the year in single digit. So it took me half the decade to finally capitalize on this little productivity boost. To think of all those wasteful zeroes through the years...

Tragic.

Funny,

I'm actually adding an extra zero on the years.

i.e. Today is 5-6/005

If we all did this, we wouldn't have to worry about resetting it until 3000.
Also, in two years we will all be living in 007.

TEG

[Doctor Q]

Wake up, ancient thread, wake up!

I hereby report that I celebrated the big moment yesterday when the date and time (in "sort" order) were 07 08 09 10:11:12.

I hope you all enjoyed it too! :)

[rdowns]

This just made me LOL. Just what were you doing to celebrate at that moment? :D

[Nermal]

He probably counted from 7 to 12.

[jsw]

He probably counted from 7 to 12.
I consider that to be the funniest post I've read in weeks. :D

Edit: I'm still here, chuckling (more like "hee hee hee"), head back, slapping the chair arm.

[Nermal]

Pleased to be of service! :D

[Doctor Q]

Yes, I counted from 7 to 12, but rather than increment by 1, I incremented by epsilon so it would takes longer to get to 12.

More counting = more fun. :D

[Nermal]

Thought you might appreciate this :)

[Scarlet Fever]

Thought you might appreciate this :)

and you were 1 post short of the 69th post of this thread ;)

[Nermal]

GAH! I didn't even notice! …grumble…

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Thought you might appreciate this :)D***, that was cooler than this:
82091

:o

[Scarlet Fever]

continuing Dr. Q's Pi fetish, here's (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=3141592) the pi thread :p

[Queso]

Wake up, ancient thread, wake up!

I hereby report that I celebrated the big moment yesterday when the date and time (in "sort" order) were 07 08 09 10:11:12.

I hope you all enjoyed it too! :)
I have to confess I noticed it too :o

[Doctor Q]

continuing Dr. Q's Pi fetish, here's (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=3141592) the pi thread :pYou could also round it to post 3141593 (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=3141593).

Or thread 314159.