explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1475: Technically

2022-02-15T15:23:30Z

Sci0927:

Technically, it's poor form and rude to ignore someone based on *Clicks Random page* [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 13:45, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

It's also possible that Cueball is purposefully inviting another "technically" sentence by stating he's looking at a bug, since it's unlikely he's looking at a member of the order Hemiptera. 14:21, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Well, it seems that White hat is responding to being asked if he is taking drugs, and technically, any food item that is consumed only for its taste or other effect on the body and mind, such as chocolate, could be argued to be a drug by a combination of both definitions given in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.85|108.162.254.85]] 17:39, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Along the same lines as the "bug" statement, does "a rock with a fossil in it" invite any sort of technical correction? I wouldn't know, personally, but there might be some people out there who would argue that since the fossil was a rock, or some other quibble about the phrase? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.192|108.162.238.192]] 20:19, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
:At that point, I'd say we're drastically overthinking this. Rocks are not in and of themselves fossils, but they are the most common substance in which fossils are found. (And anyway, most of the discussion about refining that definition would probably include several sentences starting with "technically", which I'd immediately ignore. ;)) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:56, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Even though the comic doesn't state this specifically, I wonder if this one goes under his "My Hobby" series. It certainly seems to be in the same spirit. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:57, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
:If it's not labeled "My Hobby", it doesn't belong in that series. There are similarities, but they aren't exactly the same, and it's not labeled as part of the "My Hobby" series. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 03:30, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
::I think it's rather an opposing behavior. In "My Hobby" it is usually Cueball driving others nuts, here he ignores someone else who is trying to drive him nuts. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.217|141.101.105.217]] 06:53, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
techically,you can make a fruit salad with only tomatoes and cucumbers [[User:Sci0927|Sci0927]] ([[User talk:Sci0927|talk]]) 15:23, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Please explain what is meant by "third type" and "fourth type" in the current comic description [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.157|173.245.54.157]] 22:59, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
:It referred to a chart (now deleted) giving the "types" of sentences beginning with "technically". I have replaced this with the definition originally in the chart.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.169|108.162.216.169]] 23:24, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
::Just my opinion, but I think that the table with four "types" originally made by [[User:Pudder|Pudder]] was pretty good and educating, maybe we should restore it.[[User:Nyq|Nyq]] ([[User talk:Nyq|talk]]) 17:05, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
:::I agree. The deleting editor just said it was unnecessary, without any application as to why. I think it's perfectly okay to give people a quick overview of whatever the comic's topic is. The chart improves the article, so I've decided to be bold and restore it. If anyone has objections, bring them up here. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 17:28, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
::::Fully support the restoration and the reasoning for it! [[User:Nyq|Nyq]] ([[User talk:Nyq|talk]]) 19:48, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Maybe related to comic 1240? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.191|108.162.238.191]] 00:29, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

It seems highly likely that, as per previous comments, both the bug and fossil inclusions are not just purely distractions, but references to items that would commonly invoke pedantic 'technical corrections'. I suggest it is worth including in the explanation [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.211|108.162.249.211]] 02:32, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
:I agree on the bug which has already been mentioned. Have included that. But I do not know ennough about fossils to see why the sentence from the title text could be corrected. You domhave fossils in rocks? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:39, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
::Technically, rocks aren't fossils, but rather they CONTAIN foss-- oh, you're not listening to me anymore. Nevermind. :) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 22:01, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Technically, does it make a difference if there is a comma behind the word technically? (see examples) I never really understood English punctuation rules ... --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.217|141.101.105.217]] 06:53, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
:Hey, look at this cool tree! --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.248.148|172.69.248.148]] 23:29, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

His sentence didn't start with "Technically"; it started with "Well". Does not compute.[[User:DouglasHeld|DouglasHeld]] ([[User talk:DouglasHeld|talk]]) 21:34, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

: "The title text starts to pedantically over-apply Cueball's rule to the comic panel, noting that technically White Hat's sentence started with the word 'well' instead of the word 'technically', and thus Cueball is wrong to have ignored it." Part of the joke is that there are a certain type of people who will pick apart every little detail of a statement or rule, and apply its 'technical' interpretation, rather than the spirit of rule. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 22:04, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

"Whales are not fish" is a very poor example: it's not a technicality, but a very major and quite obvious difference. At least where I live, most people are aware of this, except for very small children or *extremely* uneducated persons. The other examples ("Peanuts are not nuts" and "Tomatoes are fruit") are *way* more appropriate. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.55|108.162.231.55]] 00:48, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

:I would disagree that its a poor example, and I would wager that the majority of people couldn't give the basic definition of a mammal. Whales and fish both swim in the sea, both look alike (albeit on different scales), and are markedly similar in other ways. I know that whales are mammals rather than fish, but I couldn't explain all the differences. I certainly wouldn't call someone extremely uneducated if they thought whales were fish, as to me it is a fairly logical conclusion to come to. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 17:21, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

::Actually, the non-technical definition of "fish" is that it swims in water, does not walk on land, and breaths water. And any modern third grader knows that whales breath air, despite fitting the other criteria. Anonymous 20:16, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

::: "Actually" is another zero-content indicator... --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.226|108.162.237.226]] 04:54, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Oh my gosh, a Sandra Boynton reference! Those are rare (aardvark quote is from her book Philadelphia Chickens) :)

Talk:2016: OEIS Submissions

2022-02-07T16:40:49Z

Sci0927:

There's an old Numberphile video about Sub[43]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDYzSzDaHuM --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 13:24, 15 July 2018 (UTC)


"All integers which do not appear in the example terms of another OEIS sequence" there is no paradox: it's pecified *another* sequence
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.133|162.158.154.133]] 17:52, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

I am so sorry that this comment is not related to the strip, but is the scaling for the explanation way off? Previously the scaling of the whole website was stretched, but now it is a bit too cramped for me. It happens to the previous strips too.Boeing-787lover 18:10, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

Is it too much of a stretch to mention that Chris Hemsworth stars in the movie ''Blackhat'', which is also a nickname for an XKCD character? [[User:John at work|John at work]] ([[User talk:John at work|talk]]) 19:31, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

The Sub 59 one is also a paradox, it specifies that it should include all of the author's accepted submissions, so it would have to be on it's own list itself in order to be accurate? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.233|172.68.58.233]] 19:47, 6 July 2018 (UTC)
:No, it would not be paradoxical. If it is accepted, then the sequence contains its identification number. If it is not accepted, that number is not in the sequence. The sequence changes depending on its own status, but there is no contradiction. This is different from e.g. the set of sets that don't contain themselves. If that set contained itself, it shouldn't contain itself, and if it didn't contain itself, it should contain itself. Both alternatives are logically impossible, so the set itself is impossible. There is nothing impossible about submission 59. [[User:Howtonotwin|Howtonotwin]] ([[User talk:Howtonotwin|talk]]) 20:15, 6 July 2018 (UTC)
:If OEIS would bend their own rule and allow a sequence of one number, they could accept SUB[59] , and it will never be out of date as long as they never accept another RM submittal.[[User:GODZILLA|GODZILLA]] ([[User talk:GODZILLA|talk]]) 00:49, 8 July 2018 (UTC)
:Do the OEIS rules specify that a finite set of numbers can not be expanded later? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.112|172.68.50.112]] 14:42, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
::Finite sequences are permitted. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:26, 10 July 2018 (UTC)''
:::But would they need to be complete at the time of submission/approval or can they be modified at a later stage? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.112|172.68.50.112]] 09:23, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

The Westside IRT stops sequence is a wonderful piece of trivia. I found [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/27/science/in-a-random-world-he-collects-patterns.html the NYT article], which gives as its reason that at that time only infinite sequences were included. I have failed to find the necessary third-party reference to the inclusion of the sequence in OEIS (this, being an open wiki, is unacceptable) to include the point in {{w|IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line|the Wikipedia article on the West Side IRT}}. Can anybody supply one? [[User:Yngvadottir|Yngvadottir]] ([[User talk:Yngvadottir|talk]]) 20:35, 6 July 2018 (UTC)
: http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/pdf/t1cur.pdf Scroll down to page 3, which has a chart showing all the stops on the 1 line. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:27, 11 July 2018 (UTC)
: The Manhattan stops of the IRT line (specifically they normal use the #2 express rather than the #1 local) are a classic "What is the next number in this sequence?" puzzle : 14, 34, 42, 72 .... [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:27, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

I'm wondering about the comment "In UTF-16, a 9 takes up 2 bytes," about the 2 TB of 9s. Does OEIS store numbers in UTF-16 format? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.94|172.68.174.94]] 21:01, 6 July 2018 (UTC) nprz
: It seems unrelated to me, the comic says 2 terabytes of 9s not 2 terabytes of 9s in a string (UTF-16 or otherwise). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.33|162.158.158.33]] 12:49, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Helvetica seems to be one of the fonts where all digits have the same width (so that columns of numbers line up). Strangely, there seems to be a kerning pair for "11" that some Software uses. "Helvetica Neue" does not seem to have that kerning pair. (Tested using the simple HTML page in https://gist.github.com/hn3000/bec217afe666b0ee0a0430e976df4d22#file-numbers-by-width-in-font-html ).
[[User:Hn3000|Hn3000]] ([[User talk:Hn3000|talk]]) 11:04, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

Such a coincidence! I've been working on my first submission all week and wrote an Emacs Lisp program that discovered the third integer pair the day this came out! You get to see it now that I have a number allocated ([https://oeis.org/draft/A316587 A316587]): 12, 34, 56, 78, 6162, 7879. Can you find the next number in the sequence? Hint: my sequence is a proper subset of A001704. Still editing before I submit for approval. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:11, 7 July 2018 (UTC)''
: I withdrew my sequence. I learned from the OEIS editors that my sequence is "the juxtaposition of terms from [https://oeis.org/A116163 A116163] and [https://oeis.org/A116294 A116294]." The next pair after 6162, 7879 is 6547965480, 8091980920. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:26, 10 July 2018 (UTC)''

Digits do not have the same width in Helvetica, at least not in the version of Helvetica I have. Using the PHP function [http://php.net/imagettfbbox imagettfbbox] (part of the GD library), here is the bounding box width of single digits in 12pt size:
5 points: '1'. 8 points: '4', '7'. 9 points: '0', '2', '3', '5', '6', '8', '9'.
With a very large size (480pt) the differences ar more notable:
166 points: '1'. 302 points: '9'. 307 points: '6'. 308 points: '2', '8'. 309 points: '0', '5'. 311 points: '7'. 313 points: '3'. 318 points: '4'.

For 2-digit numbers in 480pt size I find: 522 points: '11'. 559 points: '61', '71'. 560 points: '91'. 562 points: '21'. 563 points: '51', '81'. 566 points: '41'. 568 points: '31'. 620 points: '19'. 623 points: '13'. 624 points: '10', '15', '18'. 625 points: '12'. 626 points: '16'. 629 points: '14', '17'. The rest range from 657 to 675 points.

In short, sub[44] makes sense, with all the caveats mentioned in the explanation. The phrases `1 to 9 in no particular order, 11, 10 and 12 to 19 in no particular order and so on' are exaggerated IMHO, the order within these subsets is not completely arbitrary.
Zetfr 10:22, 8 July 2018 (UTC)

I think that all nines sequence can be reference to Dilbert strip about random number generator which always returns 9 http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.77|141.101.104.77]] 19:41, 8 July 2018 (UTC)qbolec
: Okay, it is an overwrought cliché but that joke is actually a lot funnier in 'the original German'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.156|141.101.105.156]] 12:56, 15 July 2018 (UTC)

I thought the all nines sequence was a reference to Revolution 9 from the White Album by the Beatles. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.50.34|172.69.50.34]] 12:04, 13 July 2018 (UTC)

Two of these are real:

* [https://oeis.org/A316600 A316600 Integers in increasing order of width when printed in Helvetica.]
* [https://oeis.org/A010734 A010734 All the 9's.]

- PonyToast ([[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.165|162.158.74.165]] 01:48, 1 October 2018 (UTC))
the sequence of all oeis sequence identification numbers whose sequences dont contain their identification number [[User:Sci0927|Sci0927]] ([[User talk:Sci0927|talk]]) 16:40, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

Talk:1500: Upside-Down Map

2022-02-01T17:00:31Z

Sci0927:

:In my opinion, part of the joke which is hinted at but never explicitly stated in the explanation, is that normal south-up orientation maps are just as "correct" as their north-up counterparts, but they still appear "wrong" to us. The fact that correctly projected south-up maps feel "wrong" supposedly reveals some deep-seeded biases about how we view the world, or at least shows that we have very limited and rigid worldviews. The joke here is that this map isn't just showing the world differently, it's blatantly distorting the geography of the entire planet. At a glance, you may think it's a typical south-up map, but the humor is revealed as you notice all the new associations created by the rotation. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.194|173.245.54.194]] 14:13, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Australia is still the "right" way up! {{unsigned|Thematkinson}}
:No it is not. But Tasmania stays put as it is an island. Maybe that has caused some confusion? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:46, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:What sort of projection have you been looking at if you think these three look the same when rotated 180 degrees? I'd forgive someone for thinking that about New Guinea, but for the other three it just seems laughable. Especially if you know what "map of Tasmamia" is slang for. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.190|108.162.249.190]] 14:13, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

"People often say that maps with the south pole at the top will change your perspective." Is this really something that people ''often'' say? I've never heard anyone say it... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:06, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:I have heard it... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:46, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:I agree with Pudder. Who are these people and how often to they say it? Explanation edited. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.120|199.27.128.120]] 15:23, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:I disagree, I NEVER heard it until NOW in XKCD. ([[Special:Contributions/141.101.103.208|141.101.103.208]] 21:18, 23 March 2015 (UTC))

Is perhaps the comic's explanation about a previous map version? The comment about Australia being the normal way is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.80|108.162.254.80]] 10:10, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:could be - I see Australia as being pivoted just like all the other continents (?) {{unsigned|Brettpeirce}}
::Agreed - see my comment above when this was first mentioned here. Now it has been corrected in the explain. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:46, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

Should the title text not say South Korea, rather than North Korea? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.101|141.101.106.101]] 10:41, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:Well it is North Korea we have issues with today. But maybe it is not the former South Korea instead...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:46, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

UK was rotated, Japan was not rotated. Sardinia, Cyprus and other are missing. Hmm... is it a pre-alpha release?
[[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.245|188.114.103.245]] 13:18, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:Japan sure looks rotated. Maybe it just looks similar upside-down? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.180|108.162.237.180]] 13:45, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:Japan is rotated. As a Sardinian, I noticed the absence of Sardinia (and Sicily) and now I'm wondering whether I'd live near Japan (my sister would be extremely happy about it) or near China [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.246|108.162.229.246]] 14:59, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
::Then why northern Hokkaido is towards north, and only Honshu is rotated? [[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.245|188.114.103.245]] 16:19, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:::It is not that Japan is rotated. It is the individual island that are rotated. So the island to the north would still be to the north. And also this map is not so detailed that you can expect to see the difference if some fairly rotational symmetric islands are rotated. Also - thee are many islands that are not included. But for Sardinia and Cyprus. Since they are islands they will not be rotated with the Mediterranean Sea. So they would stay far away from Japan. Progably under some part of Asia where there is no seas to show them. The fact that many island must disappear after the rotation, and also the likeliness that some islands that are shown should have disappeared is mentioned in the explain --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:33, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

The explanation is inaccurate in a few spots in the "jokes" section. Specifically, all the points that say "X is now on the east/west (formerly west/east) of Y" are inaccurate. The whole point is that the spatial relationships of the land masses are unchanged with respect to the cardinal directions. In other words, Cuba is still off the east coast of the US, it's just that Seattle is where Miami used to be. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.193}}
:Well someone changed this back from the true version. I have changed this back. Also the main part of this "joke" was that it was now next to the Canada. It would just be wrong to say it was only next to the Canada as was written originally, since it is next to the border between US and Canada. Made a small correction also for this to be more clear. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:37, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

I always wanted a height-inverted map (ocean trenches are mountain ridges, and vice-versa), with realistic national boundaries set upon the land (that was sea) based on where they might have existed in the sea (that, for us, is land). But I suppose one could go ''too'' far in such fripperies... ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 14:44, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:Hey, that would be pretty neat! Would your aim be to preserve the same total volume of seawater (ie., same km^3 quantity of water), or to preserve the same total land area? Because I think if you inverted the height, you'd wind up with a few extremely high mountainous landmasses and plateaus, and much of the rest would be pretty shallow seas. The highest mountain range would be the Marianas. :) -[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.232|108.162.210.232]] 19:12, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

I thought this was a reference to clickbait based on the caption, where you are told it will change your perspective, and it didn't, it was just a stupid map. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.173|199.27.128.173]] 16:19, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

:I agree. It also relates to the discussion almost at the top of this section regarding this phrase being common or not. I have never seen it, but given it's "Buzzfeedness", and what I know about the Internet, I imagine it must be a pretty common phrase. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 00:35, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Yay comic 1500!
17:48, 18 March 2015 (UTC) or 12:48, 18 March 2015 (EDT)

It's not on the map, but I'm curious what happens to Antarctica in this little exercise? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.53|108.162.216.53]] 17:05, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:Not that much probably since it is faily centered on the pole and except for one "tail" it is rather rotational symmetric. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:40, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

What's the island southwest of Newfoundland? It looks large for Prince Edward Island, and most of Nova Scotia isn't an island. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.160|173.245.52.160]] 19:08, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:While Randall will know which squiggles arise from which real-world features, I reckon there'll be some contention regarding the small islands, given the resolution of the 'pen and ink' sketch doesn't do justice to the smallest (and often least familiar, to start with) perimiter-shapes. I've just gone and edited the bit about "The Falkland Islands" (mainly because I didn't like the technical "''it'' is", grammatically... maybe the better solution would have been for me to just to have made it "The Falkland Islands group|archipelago", though) and while I was there allowed for the fact that it's actually hard to say what that single island blob is precisely intended to be representative of. Note all the other little rocks also out there (but not generally lumped into the same island group), like South Georgia, and the nigh-on numberless ones of similar scale elsewhere around the planet, like the Canaries. Or the Hawaiian islands (if those aren't represented by the above-questioned blob).[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 19:18, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
::Wouldn't it be rather Colombia and maybe Venezuela that could claim the Falklands? Ecuador and especially Peru are way too in the North I think. --[[User:Nezmo|Nezmo]] ([[User talk:Nezmo|talk]]) 21:02, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

Can someone explain why an upside down map changes your perspective? I've seen many before but no explanation of why it is any different. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 07:19, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

There are three main reasons I have heard for upside down maps changing one's perspective, although only the first one is inherently a question of vertical orientation. 1) We associate up-ness with superiority. Because we read top down and therefore habitually see what's at the top of a page as being first, but also as evidenced by phrases like "things are looking up", "at the top of her field", "coming out on top", "high up in the organisation", "top of the food chain", etc. etc. Wikipedia mention this in their page on South-up Map Orientations, and cite a paper "Spatial Metaphor and Real Estate North–South Location Biases Housing Preference", which claims to have demonstrated it with various studies. You can google the paper and read its abstract for free. 2) The fact that most maps one sees in Europe put Europe in the centre makes everything else seem a bit peripheral. 3) The projection increases the size of countries towards the top and bottom of the map, relative to those in the middle, so that, for example, Greenland and Africa look about the same size, when really Africa is 14 times larger (that factoid comes from an article in The Economist entitled "The True True Size of Africa"). Although this doesn't significantly increase the relative size of Europe and America, because they're about in the middle, it does make e.g. Canada and Russia seem much larger than they are, and massively diminish the relative size of Africa. I imagine, speculatively, that this could be a big deal for Africans who feel that the importance of their continent is overlooked. (I'm not familiar with the protocol on this page, so I haven't included links to the articles I mentioned, but anyone who wants to can easily do so.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.165|108.162.229.165]] 10:53, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

In my opinion, the point of this comic is an observation of a fact how much of our deep-rooted and regarded as inevitable inter-human dealings and problems are utterly determined by purely random factors such as Earth plate tectonics and the actual nick of time (in the geological scale) at which human civilization developed into a global one. -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.225|141.101.88.225]] 12:50, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

I interpreted it as a reference to the book by (recently deceased) Terry Pratchett, 'Nation', one of the messages of which was "changing the way you look at the map changes your perspective". {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.32}}

Chile is rotated, but "Tierra del fuego" part of Chile and Argentina is not moved, and missing the divition on Chile and Argentina sides, and named "Tierra del fuego" rater than "chile" "argentina", so there is either Randall not remmember that "tierra del Fuego" is either that island and to some extent a liitle of the sourth cone of Chile/Argentina after the Patagonia or think in it a a holw different countrie or something else. ([[Special:Contributions/141.101.103.208|141.101.103.208]] 21:18, 23 March 2015 (UTC))

I also note that we have acquired a new set of islands off the (now) west coast of Florida, perhaps these were the San Juan and other Seattle-area islands? OTOH, we seem to have lost the Florida Keys entirely, which is a shame ... I enjoy thinking about what Key West would be like if it were way at the end of 150 miles of bridges from Seattle. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 15:53, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Did anyone else have problems understanding upsidedown as rotated 180 degrees? For me, upsidedown would be flipped, that is, left / right would stay but up /down would switch (with the "back" side now being to the front). (Imagine the continents as puzzle pieces.) I looked at this, and was confused by why in addition to being upsidedown, the continents were also flipped left to right... {{unsigned ip|198.41.242.240}}

A few Indonesian Islands are still the right way up![[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.154|141.101.104.154]]

Poor Aussies have once again been relegated to the cartographic netherworlds of the lower right-hand corner. ---Callejera

I just realized the Mediterranean islands would be in the upper right Arctic Ocean. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.150|108.162.221.150]] 09:41, 22 July 2015 (UTC)
What's the point? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.173|108.162.249.173]] 09:59, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:They're there because if not they'd disappear beneath Asia. Also, Randall marked Taiwan on the map. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:42, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Just noticed that there is no border shown between France and Spain. Others that appear missing apart from some very small states? should this be mentioned? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:12, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

what are the islands a bit lower than germany

Talk:1292: Pi vs. Tau

2021-12-20T17:24:18Z

Sci0927:

It should be known that in the tabletop miniatures game Warhammer 40k, the Tau are a race of technologically advanced humanoids, although I would be surprised if this has any meaning in relation to the comic.

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.247|162.158.74.247]] 18:44, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Pau is somewhat less conveniently, but more accurately, approximated as (401-sqrt(2)*phi)/200.

I started an explanation. Hopefully others will help improve it, as I don't think it's quite adequate. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.174|199.27.130.174]] 05:32, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

The comic currently shows the symbol π (pi) in all three cases, but it should have the symbol τ (tau) in the rightmost case. I'm sure there is a compromise symbol "pau" too. Maybe with a deformed left leg? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.4|141.101.97.4]] 07:07, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

WolframAlpha gives
<pre>
4.5545743763144164456766617143366171162404440766665105335330776311513504520604364524762740226212061363100001776216741750712622557020442741544760057441760026766230424023460366047331305225241275347777145543054127636365666430221066167347236617261603127725745513663702031155234027041040155322217227723576660045156156303357534162372112340027743775672417274565277274565735325624457113522164166560115654407251403563246444122664066521461311773474046032763760765740133706761276420415672577471077133607673035331070364705651055376634161405567176532346433567731715723623721267302576735154761375545411215522177775706407470673020025353246535120744232706060324711633457720155013202527060250466252665661576165164140301645132275526153126363575631176312270212441433434206352313125326760006365710744276056412434626534152021052065172556442150110056601034116570607064550553636566432544260105637423220411372664024454234201642615033200331506013362432026775605543212342336511350621361642654426372425415023071413764173735461042064323757413414533013..._8</pre> which does indeed have four 666 sequences. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.254|141.101.99.254]] 08:06, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
This number contains 7777, 000 and 444 twice, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.93.11|141.101.93.11]] 09:08, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Wrote the transcript, not sure if I explained the visual well enough, so I left the incomplete tag if someone else has a better idea. Should suffice for understanding however, considering the content [[Special:Contributions/108.162.248.18|108.162.248.18]] 08:55, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

----

People should be made aware that pau is a slang for dick in Portuguese. {{unsigned ip|188.114.98.34}}

(The discussion about different results was trimmed)

Wolfram gives the result with 666

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1.5+pi+octal
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777714554305412763636566643022
</pre>
The Unix arbitrary precision calculator gives the result without

$ echo "scale=200; obase=8; 6*a(1)" | bc -l
<pre>
4.554574376314416443236234514475050122425471573015650314763354527003043167712611655054674757031331252340351471657646433317273112431020107644727072362457372164022043765215506554422014311615574251563446213636251744101107770257
</pre>
Any suggestions how we can check them?

"Randall says so" is probably correct, but insufficient :-) {{unsigned|Mike}}

:Please use the <nowiki><pre></nowiki> tag for this long numbers.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:20, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Testing Wolfram Alpha with <pre>4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000177621674175071262255_8 in decimal</pre> and <pre>4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000_8 in decimal</pre> both indicate the approximation is only accurate to a limited degree.
<pre>
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000177621674175071262255_8+in+decimal
</pre>
<pre>
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000177621674175071262255_8+in+decimal
</pre>

The method I used to get the value I put in the text was; I used the following command to generate my approximation:
<pre>echo 'scale=200; obase=8; a(1) * 6' | bc -l | tr -d ' \\\n' ; echo</pre> which outputs<pre>
4.554574376314416443236234514475050122425471573015650314763354527003043167712611655054674757031331252340351471657646433317273112431020107644727072362457372164022043765215506554422014311615574251563446213636251744101107770257
</pre>
In 'bc'', a(1) is arctangent of 1 (i.e. 45 degrees, or pi/4); (pi/4 * 6) should be equal to 'pau'. I additionally checked the result using base 2 encoding, and converted each three bit binary value into an octal value. The decimal value of pi (using a(1) * 4) matches with the value of pi to at lease 1000 digits.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.86|173.245.54.86]] 09:21, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Both Maxima and the GNU Emacs calculator output as the first 1000 octal digits:
<pre>
4.5545743763144164432362345144750501224254715730156503147633545270030431677126116550546747570313312523403514716576464333172731124310201076447270723624573721640220437652155065544220143116155742515634462136362517441011077702611156024117447125224176203716336742057353303216470257662666744627534325504334506002730517102547504145216661211250027531716641276765735563341721214013553453654106045245066401141437740626707757305450703606440651111775270032710035521352101513622062164457304326450524432531652666626042202562202550566425643040556365710250031642467447605663240661743600041052212627767073277600402572027316222345356036301002572541750000114422036312122341474267232761775450071652613627306745074150251171507720277250030270442257106542456441722455345340370205646442156334125564557520336340223313312556634450170626417234376702443117031135045420165467426237454754566012204316130023063506430063362203021262434464410604275224606523356702572610031171344411766505734615256121034660773306140032365326415773227551
</pre>
This also agrees with the first 220 digits of the previous result (last two digits above are 57 vs 61 here, maybe due to rounding when converting to octal). Again, no 666 within the first 200 digits. The Wolfram result deviates from this at the 18th digit already. --[[User:Ulm|ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 10:21, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Also e+2 does not contain the substring '666':
<pre>echo "scale=200; obase=8; e(1) + 2" | bc -l</pre>
<pre>4.55760521305053551246527734254200471723636166134705407470551551265170233101050620637674622347347044466373713722774330661414353543664033100253542141365517370755272577262541110317650765740633550205306625</pre>--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:43, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

: A sudden flash of realization: are we getting nerd-sniped here?--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.168|108.162.254.168]] 11:55, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

::Not unlikely. Have posted this as a trivia. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:11, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

: The claim is clearly about e+2, making Dgbrt's comment closest to the right direction. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.40|173.245.54.40]] 12:03, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

When I take Wolfram alpha's octal(pi*1.5) I get the first 303 (base 10) characters as this:
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777714554305412763636566643022106616734723661726160312772574551366370203115523402704104015532221722772357666
</pre>
200(base 10) is 310(base 8) so in the fist '200' characters, 666 shows up 4 times (5 if you count 6666 as twice?) [[User:Xami|Xami]] ([[User talk:Xami|talk]]) 14:01, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

: The Wolfram result is what you get when you calculate pi*3/2 in decimal, round to 14 digits after the decimal point and then convert to octal. That is, 4.7123889803846910 converted to octal. Definitely, this won't give you 200 digits precision. --[[User:Ulm|ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 15:15, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
:: It lines up too perfectly to be a coincidence. It fits all the requirements: has 666 four times within 2008 digits, and although 0000, 222, 444, and 7777 appear, they only appear once as a run. You can't double count 7777 as two 777's because it is a single run. If WolframAlpha doesn't give the correct precision, it is likely that Randall made the same error. --[[User:RainbowDash|RainbowDash]] ([[User talk:RainbowDash|talk]]) 16:59, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Being τ, tau, is already being expressed in terms of π, pi, it shows bias. (Though I think Pau would lead to some interesting spherical geometry equations. ~~Drifter {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.214}}

The bias is worse than that: From the perspective of π, the discussion is about multiples of π, so (3/2)π (that is 3π/2 = 3τ/4) is indeed the compromise between π and 2π. But from the perspective of τ, the discussion is about fractions of τ, so the compromise between τ and τ/2 is τ/(3/2) (that is 2τ/3 = 4π/3). Maybe we can call this ‘ti’ (or ‘tie’, pace 173.245.53.184 below). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:47, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Actually, both compromises are wrong. (3/2)π is the arithmetic mean of π and τ, while τ/(3/2) is their harmonic mean. But for geometric ratios (which these are), the appropriate mean is generally the geometric mean (hence the name). You can see how even-handed this is: it's (√2)π = τ/(√2). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:50, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

---

I am in favour of just calling it ti(e). --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.184|173.245.53.184]] 17:52, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

---

There are real world uses to both Tau and Pi: Pi is the number that relates to what you get when you measure a circle (the distanced around divided by the distance across); and Tau is get when you draw a circle (the distance around divided by the distance from the center). It is the difference between a mic (aka "micrometer" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometer ) and a protractor. Tau might have some mathematical advantages in both 2D and 3D in that it has no integer attached to it to find either circumference (2D) or surface area (3D) which makes radians and solid angles simpler. However, that advantage is lost in other dimensions and for the area of a circle.

Pau, of course, has a 61% chance of going to the dribbling spheroid hall of fame. (ref: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gasolpa01.html ), to which neither Tau nor Pi can hold a candle.~~Remo ( [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.183|199.27.128.183]] 19:19, 18 November 2013 (UTC) )

---

The differences between Wolfram and BC really bothered me since I have used both for precision calculation in the past. The long and short of the matter, having done most of the maths 'long hand', BC is correct, Wolfram is wrong, and sadly, Randall was also wrong. It seems as tho Wolfram is rounding pi*1.5 to around 15 decimals but leaving the 9 repeating before converting to Octal.

If you take the output of octal(pi * 1.5) and paste it back into the input like so:
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777_8
</pre>
Wolfram gives you back (converted to decimal):
<pre>
4.71238898038468999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
</pre>
If you give that same input to BC and ask it to convert to decimal you get:
<pre>
4.712388980384689999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999992894219160392567888
</pre>
If you do the math long hand out to 55 decimal places, pi * 1.5 equals:
<pre>
4.712388980384689857693965074919254326295754099062658731462416...
</pre>
Converting that by hand into octal is a bit of a pain, but if you do, at the 18th decimal place where BC and Wolfram differ you end up with the following:
<pre>
0.000000000000000183697019872102976583909889841150158731462416... is your remainder to be converted so far
0.000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625 = 8 ^ -18
</pre>
Wolfram gives the 18th decimal as 5, BC as 3. I can't see 5 going into 18 5 times, but 3 times fits nicely.
--[[User:DarkJMKnight|DarkJMKnight]] ([[User talk:DarkJMKnight|talk]]) 20:04, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Looks like Wolfram is simply using floating-point mathematics, presumably the IEEE "double precision". Interestingly, this is not the first time floating-point maths has been a problem; in [[287]], a similar problem caused an unintended trivial solution. [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 04:41, 19 November 2013 (UTC)
* On second thoughts, there's no indication that he used Wolfram Alpha; as with [[287]], it simply could have been a Perl script (or Python or pretty much any programming language). [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 05:25, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

---

How can 200 be octal and then mean 310 decimal???
If 200 were octal, that would be 128 decimal, so we would end up writing 128 decimals.
Of course 310 octal is 200 decimal, but taking 2008 to mean 31010 is plain crazy, even if it's the only way to make it fit the "four times 666" constraint!
What am I missing here? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.149|173.245.53.149]] 21:27, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

This Mathematica code searches for the pattern 666 in the octal expansion of 1.5 pi:
<pre>digits = RealDigits[3*Pi/2, 8, 10000][[1]]; Select[Range[10000 - 2], Take[digits, {#, # + 2}] == {6, 6, 6} &]
{279, 326, 495, 496, 3430, 3728, 4153, 6040, 7031, 7195, 7647, 7732, 8353, 8435, 8436, 8575, 8768, 9008}</pre>
These positions start counting with the leading "4" as position 1. It does not occur in the first 200 digits, but occurs 18 times in the first 10,000 digits. Many other digit combinations occur more times in the first 10,000 digits, including "123" (23 times), "222" (21 times), and "555" (26 times). Note that "xkcd" converted to numbers (a=1, b=2, etc.) is 24, 11, 3, 4. The combination 241134 first occurs in 1.5 pi at digit number 250,745. [[User:Dcoetzee|Dcoetzee]] ([[User talk:Dcoetzee|talk]]) 06:44, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Wow, this filled up fast. Is it time to remove the Incomplete tag yet? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 03:14, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

:Please do your adds at the bottom. Otherwise it looks like as the first discussion here and everybody will ignore your comment.
:My answer is: NO. We still have to figure out if Randall is wrong or just using an algorithm nobody does understand right now.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

---

Someone said there's no indication that Randall used Wolfram, and that double-precision IEEE numbers in mostly any language would cause the same error.
This is not true: IEEE double precision numbers (binary64) are stored internally in binary.
Converting them to octal would give at most 18 nonzero significant (octal) digits, and from that point on all additional digits would be zeros (remember that an octal digit is equivalent to three bits).
What Wolfram does is rounding to a decimal number, which is not round in octal.

I think the previous is an indication that Randall did indeed use Wolfram.
Added to that, he used Wolfram in several what-if's, and in one case he used it so heavily that his IP got temporarily banned from Wolfram.
This leaves little or no doubts in me that Wolfram is the source of Randall's mistake.

Also, I still would like to know why everybody is interpreting "200 digits" as "2008 digits" and pretending that's equal to "31010 digits" instead of "12810 digits".

And out of curiosity, what happened with [[287]] and floating point numbers?
The explainxkcd for 287 says nothing about floating point.

[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.145|173.245.53.145]] 22:09, 19 November 2013 (UTC)
* With [[287]], there was only meant to be one solution, the other solution was unintended. It's mentioned in the discussion only, not in the body of the explanation, but there's a link to an interview where he indicates that it was indeed unintentional. [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 07:13, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

;What is the period of the wolfram answer?
What is the repeat period of the octal answer with the 666's, (the length of the repetend) i.e. the one that comes from Wolfram, that is converting 4.71238898038469 decimal to octal? And how many 666's are in the full repetend? Oooh - I like that new word - thanks to {{w|repeating decimal}}! [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 23:22, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

:Dunno, either Randall uses WolframAlpha whithout further checks, so he has to check his sources, or we all are just dumb.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:54, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

: The period is 4882812500. Yes, what I mean is that it repeats every 488281250010 digits. Not sure I want to count the number of 666's in there. Oh, and thanks for the answer about [[287]], I've seen it now. -- [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.139|173.245.53.139]] 17:46, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

I hardly dare to ask now... ;)
*What is an octal expansion?
*This explanation cannot be complete before someone explains what this actually means, to someone who have never herd of octal expansion before (like me)
[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:33, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
:You are absolutely right, the incomplete tag is back. It seems only math geeks were working here but it should also be explained for people with less knowledge on math.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:02, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

:*The wikipedia page for {{w|Octal}} contains a complete explanation. I wrote a plainer one but mine is still very long, so instead of posting it here I uploaded it [http://www.jojonete.com/00/20131121_Octal/ there]. It's very crappily formatted and not thoroughly checked as I don't have time for more at the moment, but I might improve it some other day. Please note that the only reason for not posting it here is its length, and in particular it has nothing to do with copyright issues. I mean, everybody feel free to copy, rewrite, summarize, expand, correct, destroy or do whatever to that text with no attribution, just as if it had been posted here. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.145|173.245.53.145]] 22:37, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

::The explain for non math people should be much more simple. Randall likes simple English, I like simple Math. Not everything is covered but more people will understand the essentials. While I like all that details many people don't. We still do need an simple Math explain here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:42, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

::I know and I agree, that's why I kept my explanation out of this discussion. My summarizing skills are just not good enough. I used the time I didn't have to reformat my explanation, but that just means it's now a bit longer than it was. I hope someone else will write a much shorter and simple one, as I just seem to be unable to do so. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.145|173.245.53.145]] 01:10, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

:::Thanks for a great explanation. I knew about this system but only for integers. However, still need a word on how to get pi in Octal. Until anyone does better a link could be posted for your explanation! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:54, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

::::I added the conversion part to the explanation, it's in the same link. Still way too long to post here. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.117|173.245.53.117]] 03:29, 29 November 2013 (UTC)

Note that pau is Catalan for peace, which is a good solution for the pi/tau dispute. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.150|173.245.53.150]] 00:10, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

:Has posted this as a trivia item. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:11, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

The trivia that states that e here represents Euler's Constant, and not Euler's Number, seems to be false, is it not? e+2 being ~4.71, not ~2.58. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.11|108.162.237.11]] 17:39, 24 November 2013 (UTC)
:I have removed that sentence. It was simply wrong. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:35, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

4/3*Pau=Tau, 2/3*Pau=Pi, therefore, It can have a practical use.--[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 10:57, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Dear DgBrt, Please leave the explain as it is. It's "way too complex" for a reason. And the Title Text does in fact need its own header (it's not the only title text to have earned it) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.65|199.27.128.65]] 19:03, 19 March 2014 (UTC)
:Hello 199.27.128.65, please post new comments to the bottom. I did revert your revert because you didn't solve any of the remarks by me. And the title text EXPLAIN could be done easy: Explain that comparing e and and pi is nonsense and explain the mistake done by Randall when using Wolfram Alpha. Everything else belongs to the trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:36, 19 March 2014 (UTC)
::OK, we need to get the admins in here before we end up in a revert war. We already explained the intentional error from Randall, which is why it's in the explanation and not the trivia section. It CAN'T go in the trivia section because we're EXPLAINING what the error is. You don't put long explanations in the trivia section, you put them in the explanation section. THAT'S why the title text is getting its own header. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.65|199.27.128.65]] 02:46, 20 March 2014 (UTC)
::All right, I've submitted a request for the admins to help up. No idea when they'll get here, but it should help smooth this big mess out. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.65|199.27.128.65]] 02:52, 20 March 2014 (UTC)
::: [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Potential_Edit_War.3B_we_want_to_resolve_it_before_it_starts Here's what they've said so far]]. What do you think Dgbrt? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.65|199.27.128.65]] 04:27, 20 March 2014 (UTC)
::::After a week I haven't been here I still can say: calm down. My reasons are still at the incomplete tag — just read it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:52, 27 March 2014 (UTC)
:::::Let's run through your arguments:
:"non Math people should also be able to understand this." I'd say the other editors did a pretty good job of that; that's the ENTIRE REASON we have an explain.
:"Randalls mistake has to be emphasised" They were. Read the explaination again.
:"everything else here is still too much, it even doesn't belong to a trivia section" But should the explanation not be as complete as possible? You underestimate just how nerdy we can get here.
:I have to side with the mods. I think this explanation was done and you're holding out for an impossible edit that will never come. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.65|199.27.128.65]] 02:19, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
::I will work on this, but it needs some time because I don't want to remove any of the great findings here. Non math people DON'T read all that number talks. They don't know what wolfram alpha is and that this site is sometimes WRONG. That has to be clearly explained.
::Furthermore this is NOT a nerd sniping by Randall; it's a nerd sniping ON Randall. He did use the result by wolfram alpha by error, he did figure out all that wrong "666" appearances, while he otherwise is very accurate on math.
::My idea is: Extract the essentials for the title text and add a paragraph like "Math details", "Background", or however to the bottom of the explain. In effect non math people would not read this paragraph but they can understand the essentials, other people would be happy about the deeper explain.
::I don't want to delete content, I'm just looking for a better presentation to the public. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:03, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
:::The amount of research Randal does, it's far more likely he made the mistakes on purpose in order to nerd snipe, as opposed to "he just made the mistakes on accident."
:::I agree with you on the wolfram alpha part, though, and I like your idea to summarize the errors before exploring them in full detail
:::Sorry for being so antagonizing before. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.65|199.27.128.65]] 04:28, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Just a comment here, as a non-math person, I understood all of this perfectly well. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.72|108.162.221.72]] 16:13, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

;Tone of "Title text" section
The [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1292:_Pi_vs._Tau&oldid=66351 current] tone of the title text section is inconsistent with the rest of this site. Where else does this wiki say, "Math is hard! It's not worth your time trying to understand the concepts here."?

''It consists of some of advanced trigonometry and other assorted college-level concepts that will in all likelihood just bore you if you don't care about them already.'' Really? There is not even any elementary trigonometry involved here, other than the value of PI itself. And since when is advanced trig a college level course? What is involved is the concept of bases other than base 10, specifically octal, but that is also a secondary school subject, both in mathematics and computer science.

I propose the following outline of the section:
*State that the property given in the title text does not actually hold for 1.5 * PI, but that due to an early rounding error, it might look as if it holds when shown via Wolfram Alpha. Further state that it is not clear if Randall, in relying on Wolfram Alpha, made a mistake, or if he is partaking in nerd sniping.
*Show how close Pau is to e+2.
*Explain octal -- base 8 -- first for integers, then for fractions.
*Present the actual octal expansion and show that the property does not hold.
*Explain why the Wolfram Alpha answer is different.
*Present the Wolfram Alpha answer, and show how the property [almost?] holds with that value.
*Depending on how self-referential we wish to be, explain how it might have been a plausible mistake for Randall to have relied on Wolfram Alpha, but that if it was a case of nerd sniping, then it was highly successful.
*Mention the similarity to the Feynman point.
This wiki is about explanations. We shouldn't bemoan a subject as being more difficult than it is; we should explain. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.43|108.162.219.43]] 22:52, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

:We should have two different paragraphs here:
:*The standard explain, containing the essentials like shown by 108.162.219.43 just before.
:*A "Deeper into math" one, going into more depth.
:*The "Title text" header is wrong!
:My 2 cents --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:58, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
::I tried to fix my old "Title Text" header, what do you think? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.204|199.27.130.204]] 03:29, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

:::I did my first attempt on a simple explain. Please do not revert this, but I would be happy about any enhancements. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:40, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
::::That is actually way better. Sorry for not giving you a chance before. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.204|199.27.130.204]] 05:07, 3 May 2014 (UTC)
:::::Thanks! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:33, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

;ATM cell size?

Is it possible that this is also a reference to the compromise ATM cell size? Americans wanted 32 bytes of data per cell, to support DS0 data rates, IIRC. Europeans wanted 64 bytes to support their smallest telecom data rate (I don't remember the designation) and to reduce "cell tax" inefficiency. Neither side would capitulate, so they went with 48 bytes, which is worse than either for both sides. Diplomacy in communications standards at work! One step above "I'll take my ball and go home!" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.41|108.162.218.41]] 21:41, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

:That was the first thing that occurred to me! But I wonder whether Randall is that deep into such trivial communications technical details. Or should we expect him to know nearly everything about nearly everything? In any case, it's a great real-world example of an idiotic compromise, which he likes to lampoon. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.132|172.68.143.132]] 20:32, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning that while Tau simplifies circumference calculations from 2*pi*r to tau*r, that it complicates area calculations from pi*r^2 to tau/2*r^2? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.17|141.101.104.17]] 16:46, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

The number 666 comes from the biblical explanation of alliances that are other than godly: "the number of a man," according to Wikipedia. The scripture it comes from doesn't mention the devil. Popular culture may be making it a reality the same way made up words become socially acceptable according to dictionary writers.[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 14:44, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

I would argue the 666 appears twice, and 6666 appears once, and that occurence of 6666 is two more occurances of 666: digits 0 through 3 and 1 through 4. He didn't say anything about them being distinct times. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.91|173.245.48.91]] 21:00, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

Happy Pi Day! I know a measly 118 digits. I should try harder [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 14:41, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
why not use both pi and tau? [[User:Sci0927|Sci0927]] ([[User talk:Sci0927|talk]]) 17:24, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Talk:1285: Third Way

2021-12-20T15:01:10Z

Sci0927:

I think the article should explain the 'typewriter story' mentioned in the title text. [[User:Ollieollieoxenfree|Ollieollieoxenfree]] ([[User talk:Ollieollieoxenfree|talk]]) 04:22, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

I'm wondering if the title text refers to the habbit many people have of slamming on their space key creating a very load sound- hence you can hear the difference between one space and two. But I'm not confident enough to edit the page [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.97|173.245.52.97]] 19:12, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

One line per sentence is reminiscent of a diagrammed/formal logic argument in philosophy. It would be a much more effective convention to help people parse and interpret content and validity of e.g. political claims. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.63.198|173.245.63.198]] 17:21, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Line break after every sentence. 
Because I can. 
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.7|108.162.245.7]] 04:41, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

ONE SPACE AFTER A PERIOD. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:38, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:MY VOTE TOO!!! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:36, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:MY VOTE, TWO!!! (not really) [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 09:20, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Writing plaintext, I always do two spaces after a sentence ending period.
This is probably because I did in fact start typing on a real typewriter.
In an environment where automatic formatting will take place, like a web page or wiki text, I use the newline.
I have had people in this wiki collapse my multiple line forms to one of the others.
(I was disappointed.)
--[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 04:48, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I prefer double spacing, but I used single spacing in writing the explanation, just to make people happy. Perhaps I should have used new lines. [[User:Concomitant|Concomitant]] ([[User talk:Concomitant|talk]]) 05:10, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
: I'm a double-spacer too. Am I wrong? I can't break myself of the habit, I even do it in tweets! --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:43, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

The 'third way' is a little underappreciated here: it divides the text into self contained logical units, and makes text processing tools (grep, diff etc.) much more usable.
Proper text rendering engines (TeX, HTML, etc.) already make this assumption and group sentences accordingly.
If only I realized this earlier, it would have made my thesis revisions much more easier.
In fact, up to this moment, I thought I was that lone guy in the comic.
EDIT: this comment in xkcd forums makes my point clear: http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=106217#p3489055
--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.11|141.101.96.11]] 05:42, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

:As a programmer, I find nothing weird in adapting your style to language. Writing two spaces in HTML or TeX is useless, as they won't render as two spaces anyway. (While using for this purpose nonbreakable spaces, which would render, is a crime.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:48, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
::It would also render incorrectly if the period was close to the end of a line. If the markup is [last word of sentence][period][nbsp][space][next sentence], the last word of the first sentence could end up on the next line unnecessarily. But if it's [last word of sentence][period][space][nbsp][next sentence], the next line of text would start with a space, which is much worse.--[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 15:16, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

::I end my sentences with a line break, a % and another linebreak. Only after commata etc i use a single line break. Oh, and don't forget to protect the space after points used in abbreviations, not as full stops, by a backslash. Most TeX increase the length of the space after a full stop a bit. Bit question: Why don't double space people, when using Word not just use a longer space instead of a double space. Noone would have the idea to indent a paragraph or substitute a tab with a series of spaces.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.117|108.162.242.117]] 03:11, 2 November 2013 (UTC)
:::Because the keyboard does not contain a longer space key.--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.188|173.245.52.188]] 18:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I always just find and replace double space with single space. If formatting suffers, someone did a bad job.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.228|108.162.231.228]] 06:33, 1 November 2013 (UTC) Synthetica

I always just find and replace single space with double space. If formatting suffers, someone did a bad job.--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.188|173.245.52.188]] 18:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

So, why did double spacing after a period ever exist? It doesn't seem necessary. [[User:PheagleAdler|PheagleAdler]] ([[User talk:PheagleAdler|talk]]) 07:31, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:Here's the standard explanation: on typewriters, each character takes up the same amount of space. So a lower-case "i" takes up the same amount of space as a capital "M". This is called a monospace font. When typing, if you just put a single space after the end of period ending a sentence, the reader doesn't necessarily get the sense that a new sentence has started. This is particularly true if you were typing in all caps, as might be common on some types of forms or documents. Two spaces, however, does the job nicely. In theory, with modern proportional-width fonts, this is unnecessary. [[User:Rylon|Rylon]] ([[User talk:Rylon|talk]]) 23:36, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
::Here's the researched explanation: http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324 So technically, an em-space after a period, an en-space after a comma. Or you know, whatever you want. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.161|108.162.250.161]] 06:22, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

even though i learned typing on a typewriter, to this day i had never heard of the double space thing. maybe it's a US only thing, like the stupid french with spaces BEFORE punctuation marks. [[User:Peter|Peter]] ([[User talk:Peter|talk]]) 07:54, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:I've always taken the double-space thing as a US thing. Some editors like emacs default to it, which is really annoying. That said, as a frenchman, the "space before punctuation" is normal to me and it is part of the ''codified'' typography -- and I think this is actually an important distinction to make. Is this double-space vs single-space something codified somehow? As a last word, I need to be nitpicky: the exact French typography rule is "a space before punctuation made of two parts (namely colon, semi-colon, exclamation/question mark) and no space before punctuation made of a single part (dots, commas.)" It's a very deterministic rule that is easy to apply (whether one agrees to it or not.) [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:40, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
::This is a common question from the French and some other nationals. The answer is that English does not work that way. There is no official codified version. The most you have is small pockets of codification within an organization, such as The University of Boulder, or UPI or the US Army. If you're working in or with such an organization you should use their standard. If you try to extend any such standard to the rest of the world you are a nasty egomanical control freak who should be chopped into pieces and fed to the fishes.--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.188|173.245.52.188]] 18:25, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

As a german typographer I have to say I’m ''shocked''! ''Two'' spaces per period? A space ''before'' punctuation?! My scientific opinion: you all are completely crazy ;-) (Just kidding, but seriously, two spaces? In Germany, the first possibility to do that safely is your last will …) [[User:Quoti|Quoti]] ([[User talk:Quoti|talk]]) 10:34, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

The doubled spaces appear in my browser's tooltips. (Maybe someone should add some non breaking spaces to the quotation of the tooltip text?) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.236|141.101.98.236]] 10:45, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

As a(n automatic) two-spacer person (just you watch, I'll use 'em here, despite it obviously not being rendered), it's just what I learnt, back in the '70s, here in the UK. I've no idea ''why'' I learnt it. However, it may stem from the same root as the 'rule' in handwriting (not biros, but nibbed pens dipped in ink... wow, I feel old, but it ''was'' at primary school) that we use a gap as big as our our (very little) little-fingers to separate sentences. I imagine differentiating full-stops (US: periods) from commas in the messy medium of ink might be a valuable visual indicator as to what a given smudge might ''actually'' be. So, anyway, double-spacing. On the other hand I should report that, "I've dropped the habit it of appropriate punctuation prior to quotes," I say, "despite being the way I learnt it." And instead I will drop "<- Commas from that sort of position," you see, "even through I'll keep the ones that are semantic pauses." You see how my standards are slipping? Anyway, good comic. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programme.  [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 14:44, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

:I'm in the same boat this this bloke. I don't get the typewriter tie in. I seem to recall being taught to use a finger gage correct gap of whitespace to leave between the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next. This was in an American small town southern school in the early 1980s. I assume it was for readability. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.25|108.162.236.25]] 16:16, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

The "third way" is used for articles on the [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news BBC News] website :-) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.233|141.101.99.233]] 14:52, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:Actually, they put each sentence into a paragraph of its own, which is yet different. (In HTML: <code>... .</code> vs. <code>... . </code>) --[[User:Das-g|Das-g]] ([[User talk:Das-g|talk]]) 16:07, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:That's what I came here to say, that the Third Way is common-place on the web today, it is the tabloid style. This headline article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24775846 off the BBC right now only has full-stops (periods in en-US) before paragraph breaks, apart from quotations (ie what the BBC did not write). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.229|141.101.98.229]] 16:11, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:The BBC is not the only web site to do that - and it is '''so''' annoying. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.244|108.162.222.244]] 10:15, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

There's a FOURTH way! I receive a "Weekly Update from Senator Tim Scott" HTML formatted email about once a week (unsurprisingly) which, in lieu of spaces between words, uses a carriage return and a linefeed. This alleviates the question of how many spaces between sentences completely! It also renders as oneverylongword in my email client. Ie: <blockquote>Thankyouforsubscribingtomye-newsletter.</blockquote> [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.25|108.162.236.25]] 16:16, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
: And a fifth: In France, they use one whitespace before and after double punctions (:;?!) but only one whitespace after single punctuation (.,). --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.25|141.101.79.25]] 20:15, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I think the finger space was to help kids create clear separation while developing their proficiency at penmanship.
I think the 2x space is a fall out from the fixed width formatting of typewriters to help assist the reader (or proof reader) with the start and end of a sentence.
Double spacing has almost become OCD for me. I can't help it. Of course I also leave paragraph marks on while I type as well. I wonder if the French would require a space before a double quote, "The author ponders. "

I think we could improve old school cryptography if we just used carriage returns and ignored the 'new' line.
I might be able to accept and adopt the single space rule if I can make my spaces default to twice the point size of every other character in the style.
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.186|199.27.128.186]] 19:00, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:FOROL DSCHO OLCRY PTOGR APHYT AKEYO URCUE FROME NIGMA DECOD ESAND ARRAN GEEVE RYTHI NGING ROUPS OFFIV EWITH OUT''AN Y''PUNC TUAT IONAN DINAL LCAPS  [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 01:38, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

I have my word processor set to a a gap equal to one and a half spaces after a sentence ends[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.198|173.245.52.198]] 19:05, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

New paragraph (TWO line brakes) after every sentence :-) --[[User:Sten|Sten]] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 20:36, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I love how the explanation uses the third method. Nice touch. [[User:JRDeBo|JRDeBo]] ([[User talk:JRDeBo|talk]]) 23:29, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone think there's any significance to the sword and the spear? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.144|108.162.208.144]] 23:46, 2 November 2013 (UTC)
:Yes, because this is a SERIOUS ISSUE. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 06:35, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:A sword has a longer blade, while a spear keeps people further away. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.210|108.162.219.210]] 12:45, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

According to the [[http://fireemblemwiki.org/Weapon_triangle Fire Emblem weapon triangle]], the 1-spacers win against the 2-spacers. Then again, I put one space after each sentence. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 18:25, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Picture of a cat after every full stop !!! {{unsigned ip|173.245.51.221}}

With all the whitespace compression and variable width fonts in modern technology switching back to 2-space is as viable as switching over to localized Programmer Dvorak. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.18|108.162.231.18]] 13:44, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Hey, does anyone know if there's any way to make the wiki keep two spaces in a row, so the title text shows up properly? [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 15:46, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

I was mildly confused about the weird phrasing of "This comic refers to the dance-off occurring ..." I already forgot my browser plugin that I've installed an hour ago. I think its great that it happened on a xkcd-related site. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.22|141.101.92.22]] 12:41, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

I'm not from the US so I never actually heard about a rule with two spaces. From my point of view the rule is stupid, really dumb. Just let go of it! There is no reason for it. My brain starts to spasm when I hear about a rule of two spaces after a period. Ungh!! {{unsigned ip|162.158.86.113}}

The 2 spaces used in (early) PCs and TypeWriters (and TTYs) could be caused by the too little difference between a «.» and a «,» with little fonts on CRTs (''320*200px with 8*8px single letter with <16" monitors with a signal trought an RF cable, for a C64''), dot-printers (''like 60*75 dpi (h*v), 9*9 per character, for an Epson MX-80'') and typewritten sheets (''maybe with dirty sort/type'')?
[The examples in parentheses are for a mid-level-case, because there are worst monitors and standards than those, see previous comments]
''Nickh''²+, [[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.166|188.114.103.166]] 00:11, 10 November 2016 (UTC) .

Well, looks like the one-spacers will win due to the weapon triangle. After all, lances best swords. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.64|172.68.174.64]] 16:54, 17 January 2019 (UTC)
:Do line breakers count as axes or staves? [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 14:06, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

I just realized that there's a line break after ever sentence in this article.
(Insert formatting here)
:It’s four tildes (~ Those guys) to sign your comment. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 14:06, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

I have an easy solution to the debate.
Just press the TAB key after each sentence (doesn't work here, because of editing reasons).

google docs actually enforces the one space style for capitalization.

Is it just me, or is the wiki intentionally using the third way? (I'm a one-spacer. See?
:WHy did you not close the bracket :( [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 10:38, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
::You opened another parenthesie! ):) --{{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 18:33, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
0 spaces after a period.yes.[[User:Sci0927|Sci0927]] ([[User talk:Sci0927|talk]]) 15:01, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Talk:1070: Words for Small Sets

2021-12-20T14:55:42Z

Sci0927:

I disagree on "A Handful" and "Several". A Handful should be about 4 to 7 and several should be 6 to 8, averaging about 7, which sounds just like several. The other two are within the range that makes sense to me. Also, check out how he sneaks "a couple of friends" and "all three of them" into the image text very sneakily. [[User:Jeff]] - From the blog
:Dude, that's the point. You've been trolled. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 11:43, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
:Several means 12 because I have always understood it to mean 12. I seem to be in a population of 1 though. I wonder how many times I've confused other people or been confused without being able to put my finger on why because of this... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:42, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Several sounds like seven, so it should mean a group of 7. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.30|173.245.54.30]] 22:24, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Several is two or more.

A handful to me is just that. A dozen berries, one hand grenade, 2-3 sticks of TNT, a bird (2 in a bush else where gives 3) or a wild blonde (more than 1 way to be a handful I guess). [[User:DruidDriver|DruidDriver]] ([[User talk:DruidDriver|talk]]) 07:09, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

English isn't my natural language, but how common is the word "acrimonious"? Should it be explained? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.56|108.162.254.56]] 03:40, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
:Online dictionaries should help. I'm using some addons to my Firefox to help me. The simplest meaning for "acrimonious" should be "bitter", but this is still one of those words hard to describe. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:56, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

I'm inclined to interpret the hover text as him saying that a couple does mean more than two. A couple of friends, and then all three of them. However, the entry does not agree with me. Thoughts? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.28|173.245.52.28]] 09:10, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
: My guess is that the entry interpreted "all three of them agree" as "your couple of friends agree with you". I think Randell would sooner troll than use inconsistent grammar so, I also think Randell was using couple to mean 3 friends. [[User:Who PhD|Who PhD]] ([[User talk:Who PhD|talk]]) 13:58, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

There is a similar ambiguity in German, where "ein paar", which literally means "a couple", is used to say "a few". In Italian the ambiguity is even stronger, as certain regions tend to use "un paio" only in the literal sense, while others mean it figuratively. A friend of mine came from Tuscany to Sardinia and one day told me: "I asked for a couple of cigarette packs, and the clerk said ok, how many? and I said, a couple, and he answered yes, how many precisely, and I had to say, uh, two? What an idiot". I had to explain to her that where I live it was not THAT straightforward that couple == 2 --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.31|108.162.229.31]] 08:01, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

This question has been settled before. A few = 1—4, several = 5—9, a pack = 10—19, a lot = 20—49, … --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.192|141.101.105.192]] 13:14, 25 December 2014 (UTC)

How much/many is/are a cupfull?[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 19:30, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

[Yoseph] - all those words change based on context, for example: A handful of ants(that would probably reffer to something like 60 ants), but a handfull of crackers(would be like 12 crackers), and a handful of batteries(would be something like 6). and so goes for couple(a couple of cars[thats like 2], but a couple weeks ago[thats like 2-3]). {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.56}}

"Several" means 4 to 7. A couple means 1, 2, or 3. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.140|173.245.50.140]] 01:08, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

The answer to the spacing one is, of course, "one."[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.174|173.245.50.174]] 18:59, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but I have to take the bait. "A few" literally means three, "A couple" literally means two. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.20}}
a handful is 4-6 several is 7-11 dozen is 12
"a couple" in the title may also refer to monogamous relationships. Maybe as a hint that you should think about the other person and not just yourself (a couple is not one). Or in the other way, that faithfulness is important (a couple is no more than two). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.240|141.101.107.240]] 15:59, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

I just came here because I was going to use this as an expanded citation for the comic itself, which I was going to use as reference for a non-native speaker about the meaning of "a couple", however, I will not be doing so because the explanation here focuses WAY too much on some perceived trolling ulterior motive of the strip, which I think is just a red herring. Whoever wrote the explanation clearly disagreed with Randall, and assumed that therefor Randall must be itching for a fight with this strip. I, on the other hand, see it as a purely benign strip, usefully pointing out a difference in interpretation that not everyone may be aware of (today you are one of the lucky 10,000): not everyone understands and uses "a couple" to mean "exactly two". And the fact that people have different understandings of the term can lead to misunderstandings, because it is so obvious that "a couple" can ONLY mean [what your native understanding of it is], such that you even think anyone who uses it differently must be deliberately trying to provoke you. They're not. There are real differences in the perception of "a couple" among native speakers of English; Randall is among those (like me) who understand "a couple" to mean imprecisely "about two", which can mean as many as five(ish). We don't hold this understanding to provoke those who understand "a couple" to mean "exactly two". Pointing out that we understand "a couple" to mean "2-5" is not "trolling". It is legitimately how we understand (and use) the term. If you don't think that "a couple" can mean "3", it is not trolling to point out that others disagree with you; it is, in fact, educational and useful (today you are one of the lucky 10,000). So, except for the alt-text, where he does deliberately joke about it in the context of talking about how polemical it can be, this strip is NOT an attempt at trolling. If you feel triggered by it, that probably says more about you and where you fall on the interpretation of "a couple" spectrum.

Talk:1285: Third Way

2021-12-16T15:41:36Z

Sci0927: 0 spaces

Talk:107: Snakes on a Plane! 2

2021-12-13T19:12:09Z

Sci0927:

I think he's also implying that it was a bad film and the sequel will be much worse [[User:OmiWan|OmiWan]] ([[User talk:OmiWan|talk]]) 23:06, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

I like proposing the parody of "Snakes On The ISS" because one, everything is cooler in space, two, I'm obsessed with the ISS, three, we can imagine the snakes destroy the Soyuz docked and now we have snakes flailing around unthreateningly in microg. XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 04:17, 7 December 2015 (UTC)
mmm cooked snake meat...

Maybe he's saying planes as in planes of reality, as well as airplanes. 21:29, 15 December 2016 (UTC)~

Talk:2412: 1/100,000th Scale World

2021-01-21T16:33:42Z

Sci0927:

Sprites?

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.44|172.68.174.44]] 17:01, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Looks like there is a form of electrical discharge that can occur above thunderstorms called a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning) Sprite]

It actually took me a second to realise this was a new comic, I thought Randal just added different jokes to Wednesday's for some reason. Given the title text, I wonder what projection Randall would use for this scale model... I imagine a projection similar to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_the_Earth#Map_projection Build the Earth's modified Airocean] would work for something like this.--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.85|172.69.35.85]] 17:12, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Just for reference and to be checked, I paste here the maths to compute that the panel spans 9 degrees of a great circle:
<pre>
> 10/1e3*1e5/6371*180/pi
[1] 8.993216
</pre>
--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 19:21, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

The ISS game seems very contradictory to the other rules in this and the previous comic. Given that the ISS would be only about 1 mm wide, hitting it with a nerf dart would almost certainly destroy it. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:59, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
:The world is at scale, but people and the artifacts they create don't seem to be. In particular, the wine glasses are normal size relative to the people. So the ISS may be life size, and hitting it with a dart should be trivial. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:23, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:: At least in the previous comic, the artifacts created by mankind are very much to scale, see weather balloons and skyscrapers. So it stands to reason the ISS is as well. Also, hitting a life size ISS from about 2 meters away hardly seems like a challenging game. Especially since the return time of 90 minutes indicates its speed is also to scale. The wine glasses you mentioned aren't to scale because their not part of the scale model but rather part of the "real world". [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 10:26, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:Th rules in the other comic along with this one seem entirely for visitor safety rather than preserving anything in the model. There's warnings about standing on cities with "pointy towers" or digging near Yellowstone, implying you're allowed to stand in other cities and dig elsewhere, which would obviously have huge effects on the model.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.60|108.162.215.60]] 23:32, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
::While you're right about most rules, you're not entirely correct. At least the rules regarding breaking off ice chips and refilling lake Tahoe seem to be solely for preserving the model, since they don't offer any obvious benefit or protection to the visitors. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:52, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
::: At the end of the day the reasons behind the rules don't matter, whoever made the scale world can decide on whichever rules they want! --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 11:22, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

Is this a duplicate? Looks the same as [[2411: 1/10,000th Scale World]]. [[User:PvOberstein|PvOberstein]] ([[User talk:PvOberstein|talk]]) 20:24, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
:Look better, the scale is different. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.47|172.68.245.47]] 20:40, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Correct me if im wrong but if you ran fast enough, could you go into orbit around earth? [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]]) 20:56, 15 January 2\021 (UTC) 
:This "What If" might help: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/68/ Little Planet] ''(also, I closed your /span tag (not sure why it's there, just following etiquette/not editing your post, while trying to fix a superfluous code-block /div that the wiki was inserting)'' [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 22:40, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

1:1,000,000 scale next? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.39|162.158.74.39]] 23:24, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
:Kind of like the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten] short film. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:23, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:My money's on 10,000:1 scale world next. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 19:16, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

If visitors in the previous comic get hypoxia unless they crouch regularly, then shouldn't visitors in this comic get hypoxia unless they lie down regularly? However hypoxia would likely negate the need for an intoxicating gas (although the visitors wouldn't be able to enjoy the apparent curvature for long before going unconscious).[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.220|162.158.186.220]] 00:02, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

The iss nerf point winning seems to be a reference to the [https://spaceinvaders.fandom.com/wiki/UFO space invaders UFO]

I can't get my head around 5oz as a volume, with wine glasses ranging from petite flutes to huge volumes for 'tasting' and/or 'binging' (depending on how much you fill it, and how much air you (don't) leave for it to 'breathe' into). Fluid ounces, I presume, but they mean little to me as everyday practical alternatives to the litre/millilitre and the US often doesn't even use the same measure amounts even when they nominally share a name with imperial so going to look at my own measuring jug probably would mislead me by a significant fraction. Yes, I could look it up, but it's annoying me that I would have to.
(Also, that glass she's putting icecaps in looks wine-glassy. Either you're icing wine, or using the wrong kind of glass for whisky/whatever.)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.122|141.101.105.122]] 04:50, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
: I'm not sure about oz, but in Oz (Australia) a "wineglass" as a unit of measurement is apparently half a cup, and as a cup is 200mL, I'm guessing it would be 100mL. I found this out by reading Kerry Greenwood murder mysteries, though, in which someone misreads the measurement as being anything a wine glass can hold. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.178.217|162.158.178.217]] 08:52, 19 January 2021 (UTC)

The area from the previous comic is visible near mount Everest. It appears to be an exact copy, with the anvil cloud and ocean matching perfectly.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.82|108.162.245.82]] 09:20, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

Why are there Icecaps on the flat ground so close to mt everest? is it the arctic or am I missing something? didn't think himalaya is THAT far north... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:43, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:I had that concern about Seattle and Dubai (presumed, at least) in the last comic. ''Might'' just be the peculiar perspective/cross-sectional nature, but otherwise it's going to be a highly accurate but ''jumbled'' model of Earth. (Or a real decimilli-/centimilli-scale planet of its own layout but with its own features named for the Earthly equivalents.) Model villages that cram in the intricately designed working alpine cablecars well within a scale-mile of the busy sea-port, etc, have this problem/solution too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.84|162.158.155.84]] 13:03, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

How big and fast would meteors be? Would they actually be dangerous on this scale? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.85|162.158.62.85]] 21:19, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

I imagine that Randall could possibly follow these last two entries with a 1:1,000,000 model. Then he could have several characters holding on for dear life while balanced on something like a beach ball. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 04:55, 17 January 2021 (UTC

if the characters jumped their heads would be about the equivlent of 200 km up i did the math (assuming the average jump is 1 foot)
[[User:Sci0927|Sci0927]] ([[User talk:Sci0927|talk]]) 16:30, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2412: 1/100,000th Scale World

2021-01-21T16:30:29Z

Sci0927: jump hight

Sprites?

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.44|172.68.174.44]] 17:01, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Looks like there is a form of electrical discharge that can occur above thunderstorms called a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning) Sprite]

It actually took me a second to realise this was a new comic, I thought Randal just added different jokes to Wednesday's for some reason. Given the title text, I wonder what projection Randall would use for this scale model... I imagine a projection similar to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_the_Earth#Map_projection Build the Earth's modified Airocean] would work for something like this.--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.85|172.69.35.85]] 17:12, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Just for reference and to be checked, I paste here the maths to compute that the panel spans 9 degrees of a great circle:
<pre>
> 10/1e3*1e5/6371*180/pi
[1] 8.993216
</pre>
--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 19:21, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

The ISS game seems very contradictory to the other rules in this and the previous comic. Given that the ISS would be only about 1 mm wide, hitting it with a nerf dart would almost certainly destroy it. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:59, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
:The world is at scale, but people and the artifacts they create don't seem to be. In particular, the wine glasses are normal size relative to the people. So the ISS may be life size, and hitting it with a dart should be trivial. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:23, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:: At least in the previous comic, the artifacts created by mankind are very much to scale, see weather balloons and skyscrapers. So it stands to reason the ISS is as well. Also, hitting a life size ISS from about 2 meters away hardly seems like a challenging game. Especially since the return time of 90 minutes indicates its speed is also to scale. The wine glasses you mentioned aren't to scale because their not part of the scale model but rather part of the "real world". [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 10:26, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:Th rules in the other comic along with this one seem entirely for visitor safety rather than preserving anything in the model. There's warnings about standing on cities with "pointy towers" or digging near Yellowstone, implying you're allowed to stand in other cities and dig elsewhere, which would obviously have huge effects on the model.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.60|108.162.215.60]] 23:32, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
::While you're right about most rules, you're not entirely correct. At least the rules regarding breaking off ice chips and refilling lake Tahoe seem to be solely for preserving the model, since they don't offer any obvious benefit or protection to the visitors. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:52, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
::: At the end of the day the reasons behind the rules don't matter, whoever made the scale world can decide on whichever rules they want! --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 11:22, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

Is this a duplicate? Looks the same as [[2411: 1/10,000th Scale World]]. [[User:PvOberstein|PvOberstein]] ([[User talk:PvOberstein|talk]]) 20:24, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
:Look better, the scale is different. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.47|172.68.245.47]] 20:40, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Correct me if im wrong but if you ran fast enough, could you go into orbit around earth? [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]]) 20:56, 15 January 2\021 (UTC) 
:This "What If" might help: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/68/ Little Planet] ''(also, I closed your /span tag (not sure why it's there, just following etiquette/not editing your post, while trying to fix a superfluous code-block /div that the wiki was inserting)'' [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 22:40, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

1:1,000,000 scale next? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.39|162.158.74.39]] 23:24, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
:Kind of like the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten] short film. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:23, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:My money's on 10,000:1 scale world next. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 19:16, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

If visitors in the previous comic get hypoxia unless they crouch regularly, then shouldn't visitors in this comic get hypoxia unless they lie down regularly? However hypoxia would likely negate the need for an intoxicating gas (although the visitors wouldn't be able to enjoy the apparent curvature for long before going unconscious).[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.220|162.158.186.220]] 00:02, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

The iss nerf point winning seems to be a reference to the [https://spaceinvaders.fandom.com/wiki/UFO space invaders UFO]

I can't get my head around 5oz as a volume, with wine glasses ranging from petite flutes to huge volumes for 'tasting' and/or 'binging' (depending on how much you fill it, and how much air you (don't) leave for it to 'breathe' into). Fluid ounces, I presume, but they mean little to me as everyday practical alternatives to the litre/millilitre and the US often doesn't even use the same measure amounts even when they nominally share a name with imperial so going to look at my own measuring jug probably would mislead me by a significant fraction. Yes, I could look it up, but it's annoying me that I would have to.
(Also, that glass she's putting icecaps in looks wine-glassy. Either you're icing wine, or using the wrong kind of glass for whisky/whatever.)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.122|141.101.105.122]] 04:50, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
: I'm not sure about oz, but in Oz (Australia) a "wineglass" as a unit of measurement is apparently half a cup, and as a cup is 200mL, I'm guessing it would be 100mL. I found this out by reading Kerry Greenwood murder mysteries, though, in which someone misreads the measurement as being anything a wine glass can hold. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.178.217|162.158.178.217]] 08:52, 19 January 2021 (UTC)

The area from the previous comic is visible near mount Everest. It appears to be an exact copy, with the anvil cloud and ocean matching perfectly.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.82|108.162.245.82]] 09:20, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

Why are there Icecaps on the flat ground so close to mt everest? is it the arctic or am I missing something? didn't think himalaya is THAT far north... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:43, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
:I had that concern about Seattle and Dubai (presumed, at least) in the last comic. ''Might'' just be the peculiar perspective/cross-sectional nature, but otherwise it's going to be a highly accurate but ''jumbled'' model of Earth. (Or a real decimilli-/centimilli-scale planet of its own layout but with its own features named for the Earthly equivalents.) Model villages that cram in the intricately designed working alpine cablecars well within a scale-mile of the busy sea-port, etc, have this problem/solution too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.84|162.158.155.84]] 13:03, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

How big and fast would meteors be? Would they actually be dangerous on this scale? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.85|162.158.62.85]] 21:19, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

I imagine that Randall could possibly follow these last two entries with a 1:1,000,000 model. Then he could have several characters holding on for dear life while balanced on something like a beach ball. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 04:55, 17 January 2021 (UTC

if the characters jumped their heads would be about the equivlent of 200,000 km up i did the math (assuming the average jump is 1 foot)
[[User:Sci0927|Sci0927]] ([[User talk:Sci0927|talk]]) 16:30, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

Talk:1688: Map Age Guide

2021-01-07T21:00:33Z

Sci0927: it can guess modern maps

I think we should make the second-right and far-right column wider. [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 16:12, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

-----

Well, I have no clue how to upload the image, it just displays the title text.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.91|108.162.216.91]] 12:47, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
:Done. Guess the bot failed because there is a larger one when you click the image on xkcd? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:08, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
::The BOT didn't fail. The was an 404 error, the picture wasn't available at the first time. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:03, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
I feel like the title seriously lacks the word "political", there's all sorts of nice things with dating non-modern world maps. -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.104|141.101.104.104]] 13:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

It doesn't just cover political maps -- there is a section on telling when you are with physical maps via the presence or absence of bodies of water. In fact, there are four or five main branches: fictional maps, topographical maps, not a map, and political maps (which have two branches, based on the naming of Istanbul (was Constantinople) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.174|108.162.237.174]] 13:42, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

I like how that this flow chart also describes what I've drawn[[Special:Contributions/162.158.26.220|162.158.26.220]] 14:05, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

The 1992-1996 range (top right corner) could be narrowed down further with the independence of Eritrea 1993. Am I getting something wrong or did Randall actually overlook this? :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.141|162.158.85.141]] 14:49, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
:Or the splitting of Czechoslovakia, also in 1993... There are probably others for different time ranges, too. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.25|141.101.95.25]] 16:28, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----
Noone else has started work on this and I'm bored so... (feel free to reorder and/or add more detail where appropriate)
Relevant Events

'''Is there a big lake in Southern California? (Created by Mistake)'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea Salton Sea] A previously dry lakebed accidentally flooded in 1905 while attempting to increase irrigation to the area from the Colorado River

Vietnam unification: the two Vietnams were not united in 1975. Although the communist victory took place with the capture of Saigon in April of that year, the state of South Vietnam continued to exist, under the rule of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, until 1976. The two nations were formally united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 2, 1976. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Revolutionary_Government_of_the_Republic_of_South_Vietnam [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.100|162.158.75.100]] 14:28, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
'''How far East do the American Prairies reach?'''
The Northwest Territory was incorporated in pieces ~1820s, there may be something more relavent to draw the line at Indiana though.

'''Is there a big lake in the middle of Ghana? (Created on Purpose)'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Volta Lake Volta]

'''The US's southern border looks'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase Gadsden Purchase]

'''"Buda" and "Pest" or "Budapest"''' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest#Etymology Buda and Pest] were originally two different cities

'''Does Russia Border the Sea of Japan?''' Russia currently borders the sea of Japan so the 1867 upper limit is because of Tokyo not existing higher in the chain. The 1858 limit is to do with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aigun Treaty of Aigun]

'''Rhodesia?''' The dates down the chain suggest this is about [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia_(region) Rhodesia the Region] not [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia Rhodesia the Unrecognized state] nor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia] the British Colony {{unsigned ip|162.158.214.218}}

:We are talking about physical/stellite maps at this point of the chart. Incorporation is not relevant. This is about the movement or size change of the American prairies. Climate change, perhaps. Haven't found anything relevant on that, though. Maybe it is about untouched land, as in not having settlements. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.183|162.158.85.183]] 16:05, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----

Should the relevant links above be added directly to the transcript, or to a separate section? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.29.127|172.68.29.127]] 14:29, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:The transcript is only for faithful transcription of the comic. It exists for users who would otherwise be unable to view the regular comic, and should contain nothing but the contents of the comic. Links go in the explanation, if relevant. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:56, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----

Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey! (It's Ankara) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.131|162.158.86.131]] 14:41, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
----

Maybe a better way of organizing this is chronologically, i.e., show the state of the world each year.

That being said, is every year accounted for? For example, 1857 appears to be missing. {{unsigned ip|162.158.60.41}}

----
From the left and roughly in chronological order (only partial, might add more later):

'The Holy Roman Empire?'
1806 - Dissolution of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire Holy Roman Empire] by Emperor Francis II

'Do Any of These Exist?'

1867 - British North America act passed, marking Canadian independence

- Alaskan Purchase by US from Russian Empire

- Meiji Restoration (in 1869, Emperor Meiji moves to Edo, which is renamed Tokyo)

'Texas is...'

independent - 1836? 35? 34? Texas Revolution

'Florida is part of...'

The US: 1818 - US basically controls East Florida after [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars#Jackson_invades_Florida First Seminole War] (Spain officially cedes the territory in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams%E2%80%93On%C3%ADs_Treaty Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819].

'Venezuela and or Ecuador?'

1830 - Both Venezuela and Ecuador become independent as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Colombia Republic of Gran Colombia] dissolves in late 1830, early 1831.

'Does Russia border the Sea of Japan?'
1858 - China cedes territory to Russia under the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aigun Treaty of Aigun], bordering the Sea of Japan (sort of? There's also the Treaty of Beijing)

'South Africa?'
1910 - the Union of South Africa created, thanks to the South Africa Act 1909 enacted by British parliament

'Is Bolivia landlocked?'
1884 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Valparaiso Treaty of Valparaiso] signed ceding Bolivian territory to to Chile, leaving Bolivia landlocked (see also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Pacific War of the Pacific]

'Buda and Pest or Budapest?'
1873 - Buda and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest,_Hungary Pest] merge to become Budapest

'Is Norway part of Sweden?'
1905 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_union_between_Norway_and_Sweden Sweden-Norway dissolved], Norway becomes an independent monarchy

'Rhodesia?'
Rhodesia was named [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_Rhodesia under the British South Africa Company in 1895]

'Austria-Hungary?'
1918 - Austria-Hungary officially separates into Austria and Hungary

'Albania?'
1912 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Declaration_of_Independence Albania declares independence] from the Ottoman Empire

'Leningrad?'
1924 - Petrograd ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg Saint Petersburg]) changes its name to Leningrad

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]]

You know there are times where I suspect he's just making some of his comics intentionally hard to explain or very ambiguous just to watch us do somersaults trying to describe them and make it clear, not necessarily for this comic but definitely with some of them it just seems that way. I don't know if he does or not, or how much he even pays attention to this wiki, just a thought. Of course maybe he does just because we're prime nerd sniping material. [[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 16:00, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----
I'm pretty sure 'is it larger than a breadbox' is a reference to 20 questions. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.77|108.162.216.77]] 16:11, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:From the Wikipedia page for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadbox 'Breadbox']: "The most common reference to breadboxes is the phrase "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" when trying to guess what some surprise object may be. This question was popularized by Steve Allen on the American game show What's My Line? where he initially asked the question on 18 January 1953. It remains a popular question in the parlor game 20 Questions." [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.16|141.101.98.16]] 17:48, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Note that it is very hard to even ''find'' Jan Mayen on an actual world map (even a political one), never mind figure out which country it belongs to. So anyone actually following these questions might (in some cases) get derailed fairly easily. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.81.77|141.101.81.77]] 18:20, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

::You will only get there if you can't find Istanbul/Constantinople, you can't find the Ottoman Empire, you can't find North Korea, and Soviet Russia can't find you. Note that the "no" box actually says "not yet". If you can find any of those four, you will never reach the Jan Mayen box. You will also never answer "yes" to the Jan Mayen box, as that would contradict the Soviet Union and North Korea not existing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

::I tried to explain that a response of "What?" is interpreted to be unable to find Norway, not Jan Mayen, for this reason and that the name didn't exist until 1620, but then I couldn't eliminate that the map is from 1299 or earlier, because the kingdom of Norway is not that old. As for the "Yes" response, for a short period between November 1 and December 28, 1922, neither the Soviet Union nor the Ottoman Empire existed, and Norway had already received jurisdiction over Jan Mayen then.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 07:16, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

::I stumbled on this when trying to apply the test to the Yakko's World map (which is normally mid-1990 - total of Yemens and Germanys is 3; of course, that's because there's 2 Yemens and 1 Germany, and the intended date was probably in 1991). As it happens, the Soviet Union is labelled "Russia", Korea is shown as unified, and Istanbul is not labelled at all but the country is Turkey, so we get to the Jan Mayen question. (I hadn't looked at thar map precisely enough to figure out if Jan Mayen is there at all, but it must be Norwegian if it does appear. However, even if we answer "yes", it would not be possible to reach the 1990 option anyway [we get 1954-57, in fact]. OTOH, if we accept that the Soviet Union is there, we correctly reach the Micronesia question, and the mid-1990 option is close enough to that to be able to guess correctly.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.30|141.101.80.30]] 13:56, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

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Update picture, please: The "giant French blob" "yes" option points to the correct box (Pakistan) on xkcd.com but not on this page (Bangladesh), and the incorrect version leaves out approximately 1930-1960. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

I fleshed out the Narnian section with links to the original illustrated maps from several books (but this gets weird in a hurry because there is no consistency of illustrations across the various editions of the books). I think it deserves to be mentioned in the article (although I did not try) that Randall is being slightly disingenuous with the history of maps of Narnia. For instance, there is no published map with sufficient detail to determine if Beruna has a ford or a bridge, neither can I find a map that includes Aslan's Country. On the other hand, it is also not an accurate history of the geopolitics of Narnia; for instance, Calormen existed during the time of the first three books even if it wasn't listed on any of the authorized maps. Also, it is the first time I have helped to edit an article, so I apologize for the quirkiness (especially the reliance on non-wikipedia links). [[User:Mwdaly|Mwdaly]] ([[User talk:Mwdaly|talk]]) 02:55, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

The introduction to the Narnia section reminds me of Douglas Adams' discussion of the difficulties of tense formation in time travel [http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Time_Traveler's_Handbook_of_1001_Tense_Formations], differences between writing/publication order and reading order are very like time travel. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.217|141.101.70.217]] 16:24, 4 June 2016 (UTC)
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Any particular reason the Crimea description was edited to be so much more condemning of Russia? I could understand if it was originally written that way, but it was changed essentially to put Russia's actions in a negative light. Is that something that needs to be done? {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.174}}

;My map doesn't fit the chart... I think?

I've got a Stanford's General Map of the World (On Mercator's Projection) from 1968. My answers:

Istanbul '''->''' The Soviet Union exists '''->''' West Africa is ''not'' a giant French blob '''->''' Only one Vietnam '''->''' Jimmy Carter is fine... I think? The only animals on my map are Poseidon and a seahorse '''->''' Sinai is mostly Egyptian...

Bangladesh exists, and below Victoria is Tanzania; so where's the second Vietnam I've failed to locate on my map? [[User:Mr FJ|Mr FJ]] ([[User talk:Mr FJ|talk]]) 20:44, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:Your map is optimistic in suggesting there is only one Vietnam, as 1968 was in the heart of the Vietnam War. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.123|141.101.98.123]] 22:42, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

;Saint Trimble's Island

I think the real question is: how long until there actually is one on this planet, even though Randal claims to have made it up.
--[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:30, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps this should refer to Sandy Island. [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/22/sandy-island-missing-google-earth] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.217|141.101.70.217]] 16:18, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

There was a Trimble Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Island [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.136|162.158.159.136]] 11:51, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
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Appearantly the year of an event is included in intervals after the event, but not in those prior. How do we handle it? [[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 03:46, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

;Flaws

Going on the path '''neither''' - '''no ottoman empire''' - '''no soviet union''' - '''no north korea''' - '''jan mayen is norwegian''' I will get results that all belong to a time were the soviet union existed. Am I doing it wrong?--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.175|162.158.92.175]] 08:01, 2 June 2016 (UTC)
:This path implies a time interval between November 1 and December 28, 1922, so it is unclear why it is linked to the Istanbul Division, which is 1928 or later.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 08:28, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

;Did it work on your map?
;Worked:
I just tried this out on an old Danish world atlas (''Lademann Verdensatlas'' with most English names also included). And although I could not determine the capital of Micronesia, I found out that it was still called Upper Volta not Burkino faso and thus the map should be from 1982-1984. First then did I check the release date for this map and true enough it was from 1982! Cool. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:41, 2 June 2016 (UTc)

it can guess modern maps
;Didn't work:
A map [http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-b011-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99#/] in the New York Public library, dated 1840, is given a date of 1818-1830. Notably this map has Texas as part of Mexico (though mentioned as in captials indicating a district within Mexico. It is also missing independent Paraguay, Ecuador and Venezuela. [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 10:04, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Apparently most Mars maps were made in 1922-1932. No Istanbul/Constantinople, no Ottoman Empire, Soviet Union exists (e.g. Mars 3 and Mars 6), no Saudi Arabia... --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.62|173.245.52.62]] 11:18, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

I have been evaluating world globes (subset of maps of course) for several years, and find this quite amusing. A note of interest: Apparently Randall knows that maps often do include copyright or other dates, while globes with very few exceptions do not include a date. There are other guides to finding the date of presentation of a globe of course, which may or may not pin the date down more precisely. [[User:Pault151|Pault151]] ([[User talk:Pault151|talk]]) 05:38, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Hugo Giraudel made a command line version of this: https://github.com/HugoGiraudel/map-dater (full disclosure: I helped) [[User:Haroenv|Haroenv]] ([[User talk:Haroenv|talk]]) 16:24, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Starting at the Istanbul Division, the Question Date Range no longer fits the definition at the top of the table, and now includes the effects of the Prior Date Range. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 07:03, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

I tried to apply this to a map of Pangaea and ended up being taken to the "you made this yourself" part... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.106|162.158.78.106]] 09:49, 27 August 2017 (UTC)
:It's very nice.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.249|162.158.58.249]] 12:22, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

How come Istanbul can both exist and not exist on a map of the same date. They can both lead to Zare/Zaire. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:04, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Munroe writes: "(Assuming it's complete, labeled in English, and detailed enough)" which is unfortunately not enough of an assumption. Some publishers are notorious for updating slowly. Like looking at the light that left a galaxy several years ago, you may be looking at a map that reflects reality the last time the publisher really updated it (and did not just slap a new date on it). Also, there's Constantinople. Which still shows up on maps of Greece, published in English, in Greek. In fact, the list of facts that map-makers deny or have denied for political reasons is huge. It's why this game (which I used to play when I was a kid - 2 Pakistans and the name of the Congo were major indicators) can be frustrating. And no, we did not use UAR, since different mapmakers handled it differently.
Hey, I found this one with Smyrna: https://www.greektravel.com/maps/greece.html Can someone find one with Constantinople?
Oh, oh, and I used to be a cartographer. It doesn't make me right, but I like saying it. [[User:Jd2718|Jd2718]] ([[User talk:Jd2718|talk]]) 23:41, 21 December 2020 (UTC)