explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:835: Tree

2023-10-07T02:54:19Z

WhatDoWeDoNow:

I didn't really look too closely, but it seems to be based on Red-Black trees (Red Green in the case of Christmas): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_black_tree

: Nope. For a Red-Black tree, all the leaves have to be the same color as the root, and no red nodes can have a red parent. The root here is a yellow star, the leaves are mixed colors, and both colors have instances of a node with a color that matches it's parent, so nether red nor green can be the "Red" for the algorithm. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.58}}

Then again it could just be a color scheme. [[Special:Contributions/132.3.25.79|132.3.25.79]] 12:35, 23 April 2013 (UTC)Tyler

:: I am forced to conclude, by this and the problem with the heaps, that Randall has forgotten his data structures. Putting a red-black tree on the wall would be so extremely xkcd-typical that missing it suggests having forgotten they are a thing. [[User:Singlelinelabyrinth|Singlelinelabyrinth]] ([[User talk:Singlelinelabyrinth|talk]]) 05:32, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

The title text doesn't really make sense - removing the root of a heap is a very common practice for a variety of applications. In fact, you almost always want to process heaps by removing the root. [[User:Ciotog|Ciotog]] ([[User talk:Ciotog|talk]]) 14:05, 2 March 2014 (UTC)
: It is common, ok. And, in fact, Billy WILL process the heap by removing the root. It makes however sense, since all heaps must be "refreshed" after you remove the root. While it takes small time for a computer, it can be lengthy for a human. And it would be probably better an unsorted array of presents, so Billy can open any present without effecting any effect (see Comic 326) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.42|108.162.229.42]] 14:10, 17 June 2014 (UTC)

Hmmm... The heap seems sketchy. Note the second and third levels. Not a heap by C++ standards.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.218|108.162.245.218]] 22:08, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

The heap doesnt look like a heap to me (or at least not a common binary heap): the root has 4 children for a start, and it is not balanced, for seconds. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.163}}

As a matter of fact, there's a structure that is a combination of a tree and a heap: it's called a "Treap". {{unsigned ip|162.158.89.205|19:11, 9 December 2017}}

argh that pun is awfully bad

also my post has nothing to do with the treap one [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 10:48, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
:I added in the relevent 'missing signature' to the Treap comment, which helps delineate that comment from what your addition is. As you may have seen with some of your pre-username contributions, it's something that passing editors do, but we'd of course prefer not to have to. And it can be left that way by accident, as well as not even knowing. But we have both {{template|unsigned ip}}, used above, and {{template|unsigned}}, for those who 'should know better'... ;)
:Anyway, convention is that you add a ":" to your reply if you were replying off a prior comment (or add one more ":" than was there ahead of the thing you're replying to). That nests indents. Your reply (to the comic) isn't indented, so would be assumed to be a brand new comment, not a comment-reply. If you see what I mean.
:(Though I know from your prior messages that you also reply (to indented replies to you) with no indenting at all. But if you take a look at how cascades of replies are shown, in a heavy and complicated discussion, you should see how it helps work out who is replying to what, a little bit.)
:Another advantage to ":"ed replies is that line-breaks (starting again on the next line with another ":"ed beginning) get honoured, rather than the whitespace being folded into merely a space and continuation. With the break, you get it like you see here (now I'm on the fourth distinct paragraph) without having to double-space between them in the edit text ''or'' insert actual HTML line-break tags to make it come out how you'd wish it to.
:But these are all little tricks and techniques that you'll pick up, I'm sure. Just thought I'd mention these things, in passing, as I was 'fixing' the original problem. I could talk to you more on your User Talk page, but the way you're using it makes me feel as if I'd be intruding on your own monologues (on top of the User namespace, which I wouldn't dream of editing). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.168|172.71.178.168]] 17:41, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

i'll add another section then:

:update: done (also it put it like if "this: that" instead of "this that") [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 23:46, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

I disagree with the text's explanation of the (Christmas) tree: The "Christmas tree" is a basic representation of a binary tree... However, there is an ornament/node on the left which has only one child node, so it can't be a binary tree. [[User:WhatDoWeDoNow|WhatDoWeDoNow]] ([[User talk:WhatDoWeDoNow|talk]]) 02:54, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

Main Page/sandbox

2023-04-01T03:13:54Z

WhatDoWeDoNow: Saying hi!

If you get to this sandbox page, say hi! —[[User:EnderPlays|EnderPlays]] October 11, 2022
:Hi —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:Hi
:Hi! [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
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:hi! [[User:JLZ0kTC5|JLZ0kTC5]] ([[User talk:JLZ0kTC5|talk]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:Hi! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.22|172.69.68.22]] {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)Bumpf
:Hi again? Random is [[Special:Random|weird]]. {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 14:24, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
:Yea, random brought me back here too lol. {{User:EnderPlays}} 01:43, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
:Hi! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.46|162.158.2.46]] 20:42, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
Hi [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.159|172.70.230.159]] {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
Hi!
:Hi, random is fun. --RandomInternetViewer {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:Hi. Got here from random :) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC) -[[User:Theunlucky|Theunlucky]] ([[User talk:Theunlucky|talk]]) 21:04, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
Hi people [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.209|162.158.146.209]] {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)

Hello from very slightly in the future! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.56|172.70.162.56]] {{#time:H:i, d F Y (e)|+1 minute}}

Hi! [[User:WhatDoWeDoNow|WhatDoWeDoNow]] (visited Jan 17th, 2023)

:Hi!
Hello, future (and past) sandbox visitors! I got here from random too. :) [[User:LostXOR|LostXOR]] 2023-03-28
:I am here from the future. I come from March 31st, in the year of 2023 to say hello. [[User:WhatDoWeDoNow|WhatDoWeDoNow]] ([[User talk:WhatDoWeDoNow|talk]]) 03:13, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

Talk:414: Mistranslations

2023-03-20T03:57:18Z

WhatDoWeDoNow:

My copy of the Kama Sutra used to be next to my copy of the Bible. Then I decided to get rid of that disgusting book, now I don't have a Bible anymore. [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 22:13, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

...all jokes aside, I do wonder what's about to happen. [[User:Nafedalbi|Nafedalbi]] ([[User talk:Nafedalbi|talk]]) 18:57, 15 April 2022 (UTC)Nafedalbi

[[User:WhatDoWeDoNow|WhatDoWeDoNow]] ([[User talk:WhatDoWeDoNow|talk]]) 03:57, 20 March 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2733: Size Comparisons

2023-02-04T19:09:38Z

WhatDoWeDoNow:

But Texas isn't even the largest US State. It's the ''second'' largest state, behind Alaska. Mind you, if you took Alaska and divided it into two then Texas would no longer be in second place... It would now be third! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.203|172.71.242.203]] 02:11, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
:LOL, poor Texans. I'm from Australia. We only have 6 states, and 4 of them are bigger than Texas. So Texas would be in the smallest 50% of states if it was part of Australia [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 14:01, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

I started an explanation. My first, so I hope it's OK. Notice how I resisted [Citation needed]. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:20, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

:... and ninjaed. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:21, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Fixed the beginning, now it says Texas is the second-largest state. [[User:WhatDoWeDoNow|WhatDoWeDoNow]] ([[User talk:WhatDoWeDoNow|talk]]) 03:29, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
:Alaska isn't usually considered part of the "contiguous US", so Texas is indeed first there. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:39, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
::Whoops, didn't see that. Sorry! [[User:WhatDoWeDoNow|WhatDoWeDoNow]] ([[User talk:WhatDoWeDoNow|talk]]) 19:09, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Note that if you scale Rhode Island up to the size of the Solar System, the ants would be even larger. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 06:46, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Trivia: In Germany we like to compare big things to the size of the Saarland, the smallest federal state that is not a city state. But since it is also the state with the least people living in it almost noone really knows how big the Saarland really is (and of the rest noone really cares to find out). This reminds me a lot of this Texas vs. Alaska discussion and I wonder if every country has something like this...? --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.39|172.71.160.39]] 07:44, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
:In the UK, at a certain range of scale our general comparison standard is (half/three times /etc) "the size of Wales". e.g. the quantity of rainforest that is doomed, at any particular time. There ''are'' a lot of people there (often, according to the Welsh themselves, too many English incomers) and it is usefully easy to identify (I think of it as the "head of the pig that the gnome is riding", but that might just be me), given its prominant appearance in the outline of Great Britain itself. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3715512.stm Usually!] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.81|172.70.85.81]] 08:51, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
::In Australia we seem compelled to use Sydney Harbour as the unit of measurement for any large amount of water[[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 13:57, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
:::And when we don't compare to the size of states, we usually use sports fields. "football fields" is a frequent unit of measurement in the media. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:13, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Notably, the larger the state you scale up the smaller the ants will be, as you would have to scale it by a smaller factor. The comparison would be more accurate if it read: "Texas is so big that if you expanded it to the size of the Solar System, the ants there would "only* be as big as Rhode Island."
[[User:Svízel přítula|Svízel přítula]] ([[User talk:Svízel přítula|talk]]) 10:31, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
:Wait, Jordan Brown already said that. [[User:Svízel přítula|Svízel přítula]] ([[User talk:Svízel přítula|talk]]) 10:32, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

I just barely resisted changing the "Dallas" wikipedia link to point to the page for the TV show. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:11, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

A note that, in an edit I just made, amongst other things I went through and (hopefully) clarified the style of the area measurements. (Though only assuming that they were numerically correct... Didn't check!) If you say "''N'' kilometres squared", this can be so easily taken/meant as "(''N'' km)²", rather than "''N'' square kilometres", which is "''N'' (km²)". Both areas, but different. Just like the volume described as "10 centimetres cubed" would also be "1000 cubic centimetres". (In both cases being 1 litre).
<br />The easy confusion coming from the "km²" unit which you will read straight as "kilometres squared". And a single one is a "kilometre squared", before being given a number as some multiple of "kilometre squared"s, but that generally aint the same as a "multiple of kilometres" squared. So it is instead best to word it (if you do that at all) as "(a multiple of) square kilometres".
<br />((Next up, I shall probably go on to explain the technical difference between "degrees Kelvin", °K (or alternately as required for the scales Centigrade, Fahrenheit, Rankine, Delisle, whatever), and "Kelvin degrees", K°... ;) ))
<br />Oh and, don't worry. Though I used the international version of "litre", etc, above, I tried to make sure I use the American-type spelling in the article itself, despite all my British instincts and natural preference... Just that here I couldn't.conscuously stand to write it 'wrongly' in my own far more personalised bit of prose. :P [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.31|172.70.86.31]] 17:06, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2733: Size Comparisons

2023-02-04T03:29:55Z

WhatDoWeDoNow:

2733: Size Comparisons

2023-02-04T03:28:49Z

WhatDoWeDoNow: Fixed some grammar, and changed from "(as the largest state)" to "(as the second-largest state)"

{{comic
| number = 2733
| date = February 3, 2023
| title = Size Comparisons
| image = size_comparisons_2x.png
| imagesize = 238x373px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you shrank the Solar System to the size of Texas, the Houston metro area would be smaller than a grasshopper in Dallas.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TEXAS-SIZED CRICKET - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball attempts to emphasize Texas' size (as the second-largest state in the contiguous US) to Ponytail by making a size comparison. He states that if Texas was expanded to the size of the solar system, the ants in Texas will be as large as Rhode Island. However, Cueball on purpose (According to the caption) proves how small Texas actually is compared to the Solar system (which is a lot larger).

There are a lot of definitions for how large the Solar System is, but the most common of which is Neptune's Aphelion (Farthest point from Sun). Using the circle area equation, we find the "area" of the solar system to be 6.49E19 (a lot) kilometers squared. Texas's area is 696,241, if we then divide, we get 9.32E13(still a lot though). Ants, unfortunately for the calculations, vary vastly in their size. Rhode island's area is 3,144 kilometers squared. we can therefore get that Randall's average "ant" is 33.73 square millimeters large. Unscientifically measured, an ant has an "aspect ratio" of 1:2, which will result in a length of 8.21mm, which falls into the range of 2mm~25mm. Therefore, Randall's calculations are correct.

The title text refers to the opposite, where the entire Solar system is being scaled down to the size of Texas, the Houston (a city in Texas) metro area (a bit larger than Houston's area) would be smaller than a grasshopper in Dallas (another city in Texas). We can reuse the 9.32E13 multiplier, this time with the Houston metro area's area (26,061 kilometers squared), and receive 279.6 millimeters squared, a grasshopper is thinner than an ant, so we use the aspect ratio of 1:3 instead, getting an answer of 28.96 mm, or almost 3 centimeters, this falls on the slightly shorter side of the 1~7 cm range and is definitely smaller than a lot of grasshoppers.

A common trope in explaining the sizes of unfamiliar things is to compare the thing to something people are likely to know. For instance, a human-sized flea could jump over the Eiffel tower, if jumping distance scaled with animal size (It doesn't). In this case, Randall is comparing objects that are extremely different in scale (the state of Texas and a small insect), but then blowing Texas up to yet another size that's many orders of magnitude larger, with the result that the comparison is of no value in understanding how big Texas is (which was supposed to be the point). The only message you get in the end is, "Texas is much bigger than an ant." Most people knew that.

This is another in the series of [[My Hobby|Randall's Hobbies]].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball speaking to Ponytail.]
:Cueball: Texas is so big that if you expanded it to the size of the Solar System, the ants there would be as big as Rhode Island.
:Ponytail: Wow!
:Ponytail: ...Wait.

:[Caption below panel]
:My hobby: Unhelpful size comparisons

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

Main Page/sandbox

2023-01-18T04:59:40Z

WhatDoWeDoNow:

Main Page/sandbox

2023-01-18T04:59:00Z

WhatDoWeDoNow:

If you get to this sandbox page, say hi! —[[User:EnderPlays|EnderPlays]] October 11, 2022
:Hi —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:Hi
:Hi! [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:Hi! {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:hi! [[User:JLZ0kTC5|JLZ0kTC5]] ([[User talk:JLZ0kTC5|talk]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:Hi! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.22|172.69.68.22]] {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)Bumpf
:Hi again? Random is [[Special:Random|weird]]. {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 14:24, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
:Yea, random brought me back here too lol. {{User:EnderPlays}} 01:43, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
:Hi! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.46|162.158.2.46]] 20:42, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
Hi [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.159|172.70.230.159]] {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
Hi!
:Hi, random is fun. --RandomInternetViewer {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
:Hi. Got here from random :) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC) -[[User:Theunlucky|Theunlucky]] ([[User talk:Theunlucky|talk]]) 21:04, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
Hi people [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.209|162.158.146.209]] {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)

Hello from very slightly in the future! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.56|172.70.162.56]] {{#time:H:i, d F Y (e)|+1 minute}}
Hi! [[User:WhatDoWeDoNow|WhatDoWeDoNow]] (visited Jan 17th, 2023)