https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Naturallogexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-18T05:23:38ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=207:_What_xkcd_Means&diff=40058207: What xkcd Means2013-06-09T06:22:16Z<p>Naturallog: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 207<br />
| date = January 8, 2007<br />
| title = What xkcd Means<br />
| image = what xkcd means.png<br />
| titletext = It means shuffling quickly past nuns on the street with ketchup in your palms, pretending you're hiding stigmata.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
This comic outlines four behaviors that Randall thinks are typical of xkcd readers who have scientific minds, obsessive personalities, and quirky senses of humor.<br />
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The first panel shows a driver making a {{w|right turn on red|right turn at a red light}}, a {{w|U-turn}} on the connecting road and then another right turn, returning him to his original direction. Right turns at red lights and U-turns could be illegal at some intersections.<br />
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The second panel shows a person in an inset calling his friend's phone to help him find it, only for it to ring from inside a dog's stomach.<br />
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In the third panel, {{w|Graham's number}} is a large number (celebrated as the largest number ever used in a proof), and the {{w|Ackermann function}} is a fast-growing function. Actually, A(g<sub>64</sub>, g<sub>64</sub>) is less than g<sub>65</sub>.<br />
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The fourth panel shows somebody walking in a logical pattern based on the position of black and white tiles on the floor. This is further referenced in [[245: Floor Tiles]].<br />
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The title text refer to stigmata, marks corresponding to Jesus' crucifixion wounds. Devout Catholics have claimed to have spontaneously developed stigmata. <br />
{{incomplete}}<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:What does XKCD mean?<br />
:[One car of two sitting at a red light makes a right turn, then shifts over to the left and makes a left turn to go back the way it came. It then makes another right and continues on the road past the traffic light. This is shown with a red arrow.]<br />
:It means saving a few seconds at a long red light via elaborate and questionably legal maneuvers.<br />
:[Someone on a cell phone is shown in a circle in the panel. A second person in the panel itself is looking at a dog, from which the ringing sound of his phone is coming]<br />
:''Ring''<br />
:It means having someone call your cell phone to figure out where it is.<br />
:[The mathematical function "A(g<sub>64</sub>, g<sub>64</sub>)=" appears in the panel. Next to the equal sign stands a mathematician, clutching his head.]<br />
:It means calling the Ackermann function with Graham's number as the arguments just to horrify mathematicians.<br />
:Mathematician: Aughhh<br />
:[An approximately 8 by 8 square of floor tiles is shown; the first, fourth and seventh across in the first, fourth and seventh rows are black and the rest are white. A guy and girl are shown next to it, walking on what is presumed to be the same pattern of floor tiles.]<br />
:It means instinctively constructing rules for which floor tiles it's okay to step on and then walking funny ever after.<br />
:[Line indicating the uppermost right black tile: Black tiles okay]<br />
:[Line indicating tile directly below it: White tiles directly between black tiles okay]<br />
:[Line indicating a white tile in the last column over: Not okay]<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>Naturallog