Difference between revisions of "271: Powers of One"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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(Explanation)
(Explanation: typo)
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So, a series of identical images is shown.
 
So, a series of identical images is shown.
  
The title text says that while this idea may seem profound, if you think about it that it is not that profound.
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The title text says that while this idea may seem profound, if you think about it then it is not that profound.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==

Revision as of 01:17, 6 October 2013

Powers of One
It's kinda Zen when you think about it, if you don't think too hard.
Title text: It's kinda Zen when you think about it, if you don't think too hard.

Explanation

This is a parody of the short documentary "Powers of 10": the original one can be found at http://www.powersof10.com/film.

Like in the documentary, the comic features a man and a woman on a blanket, during a picnic. Then, the zoom level of the image should change... but, while in the documentary it changes by 10 time at every frame (hence the name "Powers of 10": 1x, 10x, 100x ...), in the comic powers of 1 are used: since every power of 1 is always 1, the image doesn't change at all.

So, a series of identical images is shown.

The title text says that while this idea may seem profound, if you think about it then it is not that profound.

Transcript

[A sequence, presumably continuing endlessly in both directions, of identical images of a couple lying on a chequered blanket, with a picnic basket, on grass. Each image has a rule at the bottom giving measurements in meters, with the scale in terms of 1 to a particular power. The powers visible are the -1th (part), 0th-2nd, and 3rd (part).]


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Discussion

I got the math joke but did not know about the documentary, very interesting. 184.66.160.91 04:26, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

I want a "Powers of i" documentary. 172.68.132.95 08:21, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

Basiclly it will in each iteration rotate image 90 degrees. /* 
          i^2 = -1 ,
          i^3 = -i ,
          i^4 = 1  ,
          i^5 = i  ...
Ans so on */ 172.69.55.52 09:28, 4 July 2019 (UTC)
What about a "Powers of 2i" documentary? ColorfulGalaxy (talk) 08:59, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Is it a coincidence, that this is selected for comic 271, while 2, 7 and 1 are the first digits of "e", which is also a very common base in Exponentiation? --Lupo (talk) 14:02, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

I once remember seeing someone wrongly saying "one to the fourth power" instead of "ten to the fourth power",[citation needed] probably on a show or a movie. I don't remember the name of the show. Edit: It may be cited on Numberphile. --ColorfulGalaxy (talk) 08:59, 13 December 2022 (UTC)