899: Number Line

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Number Line

Title text: The Wikipedia page "List of Numbers" opens with "This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it."

Explanation

• Negative numbers look like positive numbers, but have little application in real world situations (except as a form of subtraction).

• 0.99.... is provably equal to 1 because there is no number between 0.99.... and 1. (Binary 0.0000000000000000000000000001 = 0.0000000037252902984619140625)

• The Golden ratio is the length to width of rectangles that are most pleasing to the eye. The number which is about 1.61803, is the numeric value is called "phi", named for the Greek sculptor Phidias. The Parthenon is a perfect rectangle in size. The number of spirals on the head of Sunflowers are also said to exhibit the Golden mean/ratio.

• Forbidden Region and Unexplored are both map jokes.

• e(Euler's number) is 2.71828... and π(pi) is 3.14159265...

• 2.9299372 is a President's Day reference. It is the average of e and pi just as the American President's Day is always observed on the 3rd Monday of February (between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays). (For non-US residents, Washington and Lincoln were the 1st and 16th Presidents of the USA, respectively. Both have a celebrated place in American history.)

• Gird Could be a reference to Bleem - a fictional integer between 3 and 4, also see iCarly's Derf - a fictional integer between 5 and 6, George Carlin's Bleen - a fictional integer between 6 and 7, and SCP-033 - a fictional number that causes freaky things to happen.

• Site of the Battle of 4.108 implies that rather than treating 4.108 as a number, it is an actual location, where an eponymous battle was previously fought.

• It is often the case in the media that "It has been 7 years..." or "In the last 7 years..." etc. It is made to seem like a believable statistic but cannot always be true. Alternatively, it is intended as an absurd joke that the number 7 is just "not to be believed".

• 8 is not the largest even prime. 2 is. A joke intended for those who clearly know that the claim is false.

• The last entry seems to be a reference to discrete mathematics, which rarely deals with numbers higher than 9. It finishes off the tone of the comic that seems to be shaping the number line terms of what is commonly useful to certain areas of applied mathematics, rather than a complete, accurate version of the number line.

Transcript

[Number line ranging from -1 to 10.]

[Arrow pointing left, towards negative numbers] Negative "imitator" numbers (do not use)

[Line right before the number one] 0.99... (acutally 0.0000000372 less than 1)

[Line at the golden ratio.] Φ - Parthenon; sunflowers; golden ratio; wait, come back, I have facts!

[Line at a region between two and 2.2] forbidden region

[Line at Euler's number.] e

[Line a bit before 3] 2.9299372 (e and pi, observed)

[Line at π.] π

[Line at 3.5 with a ribbon as the numeral] Gird - accepted as canon by orthodox mathematicians

[Line a bit after 4.] site of battle of 4.108

[Blob between 4.5 and 6.5 labeled unexplored.]

[Line at seven.] Number indicating a factoid is made up ("every 7 years...", "science says there are 7...", etc)

[Line at eight.] Largest even prime

[Line at 8.75.] If you encounter a number higher than this, you"re not doing real math

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Discussion

Where does sqrt(-1) go? 67.78.183.206 19:07, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

It goes up (literally above 0). A number line can be extended to a complex plane with sqrt(-1) as the unit of measurement in the vertical direction. Or at least, that's where it actually goes. I don't know where Randall would put it. 75.69.96.225 01:04, 5 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm sorry...are you indicating the ACTUAL location for an IMAGINARY number? ‎74.213.186.41 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Yes, that's exactly where it is (up to switching clockwise for counterclockwise). There is nothing strange about providing a location for imaginary or complex numbers, the location described is logical, and the adjective 'imaginary' is an artifact of nomenclature and nothing more.173.48.140.216 20:40, 30 March 2013 (UTC)