1935: 2018 - Revision history

2600:8800:1E8C:E100:14C9:55A0:45C3:5266: /* Explanation */ Added some possibly interesting cryptography and number facts

2025-07-08T22:08:36Z

‎Explanation: Added some possibly interesting cryptography and number facts

Firestar233 at 04:43, 13 February 2025

2025-02-13T04:43:19Z

Firestar233 at 04:21, 13 February 2025

2025-02-13T04:21:59Z

Firestar233: i trust the readerbase to be reasonably able to do algebra

2025-02-13T03:28:19Z

i trust the readerbase to be reasonably able to do algebra

Firestar233: rewording

2025-02-13T03:25:41Z

rewording

162.158.154.29: Divisibility by 4

2025-02-12T11:39:56Z

Divisibility by 4

Jacky720: rv

2022-05-04T21:11:01Z

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Ex Kay Cee Dee at 17:27, 4 May 2022

2022-05-04T17:27:16Z

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Davidy22: Reverted edits by X. K. C. D. (talk) to last revision by 172.70.131.122

2022-05-04T02:15:11Z

Reverted edits by X. K. C. D. (talk) to last revision by 172.70.131.122

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X. K. C. D. at 22:41, 3 May 2022

2022-05-03T22:41:17Z

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 In this, the first of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] in a row, [[Megan]] wonders whether 2018 will be a {{w|Leap year|leap year}}. [[Cueball]] thinks 2018 will not be a leap year, and Megan responds that she "doubts anyone knows at this point." This appears to be a jab at people who suggest that anything they don't know is generally unknown. As Cueball says, leap years occur every four years (though there are a few exceptions - a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year, unless it is also  divisible by 400), adding an extra day to account for the fact that Earth takes a bit longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun. Therefore, most years that are a multiple of four are leap years. As Megan says, this is easy for odd-numbered years, since no odd numbers are divisible by four. However, according to Megan, for even-numbered years, it isn't quite as simple. However, it is still easy for general even numbers as well, as whenever the last two digits are divisible by 4, the whole number is, since 100 is divisible by 4. In this case 18 isn't divisible by 4, therefore, 2018 isn't.
-The last panel expresses a misunderstanding of modern public-key {{w|Cryptography|cryptography}}, which relies on the fact that it is difficult to factorize large numbers. Megan is applying this concept to the year, claiming that it is hard to determine whether or not 2,018 is a multiple of four and hence is a leap year. In reality, factorization is not needed here, since we already know the factor in question, which is four. Megan states that, if it were possible to factor large numbers with a calculator, modern cryptography would collapse. While true, it is true only for truly large numbers (hundreds of digits), and no factorization is needed in this case.
+The last panel expresses a misunderstanding of modern public-key {{w|Cryptography|cryptography}}, which relies on the fact that it is difficult to factorize large numbers. Megan is applying this concept to the year, claiming that it is hard to determine whether or not 2,018 is a multiple of four and hence is a leap year. In reality, factorization is not needed here, since we already know the factor in question, which is four. Megan states that, if it were possible to factor large numbers with a calculator, modern cryptography would collapse. While true, it is true only for truly large numbers (hundreds of digits), and no factorization is needed in this case. Further, public-key cryptography depends on the fact that ''finding'' the factors of a larger number is hard, but ''checking'' an alleged factorization of a large number is easy, and "is this number divisible by 4" is an example of checking an alleged factorization.
-At the end of the strip, Megan hopes the answer can be {{w|Brute-force attack|brute-forced}} by February. Brute force is a method of breaking cryptography by trying every possible option until one works. This is misdirection upon misdirection, in that, even if we needed to factorize 2,018 (which we don't), the simplest brute-forcing algorithm would need to try only 14 numbers -- each prime from 2 to 43 (the square root of 2,018 is closest to 44). In cryptography, the algorithms use numbers much, much bigger than 2,018 -- on the order of hundreds or even thousands of digits.
+At the end of the strip, Megan hopes the answer can be {{w|Brute-force attack|brute-forced}} by February. Brute force is a method of breaking cryptography by trying every possible option until one works. This is misdirection upon misdirection, in that, even if we needed to factorize 2,018 (which we don't), the simplest brute-forcing algorithm would need to try only 14 numbers -- each prime from 2 to 43 (the square root of 2,018 is closest to 44). In cryptography, the algorithms use numbers much, much bigger than 2,018 -- on the order of hundreds or even thousands of digits. In fact 2018 is 2 times 1009, both of which are prime; this can be done in less than 5 minutes unaided, or significantly shorter with a calculator.
 The title text refers to calculating which day {{w|Christmas}} will fall on. As Christmas always lands on December 25 by definition, the day of the week varies from year to year, though it's always the 359th or, in leap years, the 360th day of the year. Still, determining which day of the week December 25 lands on is not a difficult problem to solve, requiring only a few mathematical operations to compute. Alternatively, this might be an oblique reference to Easter, the date of which jumps from year to year according to a {{w|Computus|multi-layered algorithm}} that most people don't know. The changing date of Easter was recently included in [[1930: Calendar Facts]]. Additionally, uncertainty with the regard to the date of Christmas has also been referenced in [[679: Christmas Plans]].

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-<noinclude>{{distinguish|2018: Wall Art}}<!--:''This page refers to the comic named "2018". For comic #2018, see [[2018: Wall Art]].''--></noinclude>
+<noinclude>{{distinguish|2018: Wall Art}}</noinclude>
 {{comic
 | number    = 1935

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2018". For comic #2018, see [[2018: Wall Art]].''</noinclude>
+<noinclude>{{distinguish|2018: Wall Art}}<!--:''This page refers to the comic named "2018". For comic #2018, see [[2018: Wall Art]].''--></noinclude>
 {{comic
 | number    = 1935

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 ==Explanation==
-In this, the first of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] in a row, [[Megan]] wonders whether 2018 will be a {{w|Leap year|leap year}}. [[Cueball]] thinks 2018 will not be a leap year, and Megan responds that she "doubts anyone knows at this point." This appears to be a jab at people who suggest that anything they don't know is generally unknown. As Cueball says, leap years occur every four years (though there are a few exceptions - a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year, unless it is also  divisible by 400), adding an extra day to account for the fact that Earth takes a bit longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun. Therefore, most years that are a multiple of four are leap years. As Megan says, this is easy for odd-numbered years, since no odd numbers are divisible by four. However, according to Megan, for even-numbered years, it isn't quite as simple. However, it is still easy for general even numbers as well, as whenever the last two digits are divisible by 4, the whole number is. In this case 18 isn't divisible by 4, therefore, 2018 isn't.
+In this, the first of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] in a row, [[Megan]] wonders whether 2018 will be a {{w|Leap year|leap year}}. [[Cueball]] thinks 2018 will not be a leap year, and Megan responds that she "doubts anyone knows at this point." This appears to be a jab at people who suggest that anything they don't know is generally unknown. As Cueball says, leap years occur every four years (though there are a few exceptions - a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year, unless it is also  divisible by 400), adding an extra day to account for the fact that Earth takes a bit longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun. Therefore, most years that are a multiple of four are leap years. As Megan says, this is easy for odd-numbered years, since no odd numbers are divisible by four. However, according to Megan, for even-numbered years, it isn't quite as simple. However, it is still easy for general even numbers as well, as whenever the last two digits are divisible by 4, the whole number is, since 100 is divisible by 4. In this case 18 isn't divisible by 4, therefore, 2018 isn't.
 The last panel expresses a misunderstanding of modern public-key {{w|Cryptography|cryptography}}, which relies on the fact that it is difficult to factorize large numbers. Megan is applying this concept to the year, claiming that it is hard to determine whether or not 2,018 is a multiple of four and hence is a leap year. In reality, factorization is not needed here, since we already know the factor in question, which is four. Megan states that, if it were possible to factor large numbers with a calculator, modern cryptography would collapse. While true, it is true only for truly large numbers (hundreds of digits), and no factorization is needed in this case.

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-In this, the first of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] in a row, [[Megan]] wonders whether 2018 will be a {{w|Leap year|leap year}}. [[Cueball]] thinks 2018 will not be a leap year, and Megan responds that she "doubts anyone knows at this point." This appears to be a jab at people who suggest that anything they don't know is generally unknown. As Cueball says, leap years occur every four years (though there are a few exceptions - a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year, unless it is also  divisible by 400), adding an extra day to account for the fact that Earth takes a bit longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun. Therefore, most years that are a multiple of four are leap years. As Megan says, this is easy for odd-numbered years, since no odd numbers are divisible by four. However, according to Megan, for even-numbered years, it isn't quite as simple. Actually, it isn't too hard for even numbers as well: whenever the last two digits are divisible by 4, the whole number is. In this case 18 isn't divisible by 4, therefore, 2018 isn't.
+In this, the first of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] in a row, [[Megan]] wonders whether 2018 will be a {{w|Leap year|leap year}}. [[Cueball]] thinks 2018 will not be a leap year, and Megan responds that she "doubts anyone knows at this point." This appears to be a jab at people who suggest that anything they don't know is generally unknown. As Cueball says, leap years occur every four years (though there are a few exceptions - a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year, unless it is also  divisible by 400), adding an extra day to account for the fact that Earth takes a bit longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun. Therefore, most years that are a multiple of four are leap years. As Megan says, this is easy for odd-numbered years, since no odd numbers are divisible by four. However, according to Megan, for even-numbered years, it isn't quite as simple. However, it is still easy for general even numbers as well, as whenever the last two digits are divisible by 4, the whole number is. In this case 18 isn't divisible by 4, therefore, 2018 isn't.
 The last panel expresses a misunderstanding of modern public-key {{w|Cryptography|cryptography}}, which relies on the fact that it is difficult to factorize large numbers. Megan is applying this concept to the year, claiming that it is hard to determine whether or not 2,018 is a multiple of four and hence is a leap year. In reality, factorization is not needed here, since we already know the factor in question, which is four. Megan states that, if it were possible to factor large numbers with a calculator, modern cryptography would collapse. While true, it is true only for truly large numbers (hundreds of digits), and no factorization is needed in this case.