What is Digg?72 Comments
- oepapel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"The pattern shown has been pre-arranged."
Duh. No Kidding. It's the unexpected patterns that appear that are interesting, not the expected ones. You expect the squares to line up, you DON'T expect the prime numbers to preferentially group along lines.
For non-mathies, pictures instruct far easier than formulas and proofs.
Digg. - super_structure, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"The numbers are pre-arranged and aligned to form a pattern. Who would have thought?"
Yes, it's called an series. Is there some other way you would suggest laying out a number spiral that would impress more? The point of the article is that by arranging the spiral using one series, a whole host of other patterns emerge.
Sure, it's not XBox 360; but it's still very cool. - capo7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Patterns are strange but intriguing things. Especially when they are discovered in a way like this. The outcome is fantastic.
- pohl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Don't scoff at the "pre-arrangement".
The only invariants that were pre-arranged was the line of perfect
squares to the east, and the even spacing along the spiral within
the first constraint.
Everything else is observation of features that "fall out" naturally
from those constraints.
This is a first-rate example of applying visualization techniques
to mathematics.
Double Dog Digg. - deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7If the numbers are intentionally lined up at the beginning, the result is simply a geometric function graphed using a spiral instead of a line or 2 dimension axis. This is hardly earth shattering.
From the article: "The trick is to arrange the spiral so all the perfect squares (1, 4, 9, 16, etc.) line up in a row on the right side"
No digg. - steveM49, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Way cool!
Prime numbers in a region on the plane.... There is a hidden map here of the reals to the complex numbers. Is the Riemann Hypothesis far behind? - brian2k1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Digg. The patterns may appear because they align ONE type of pattern but the result is still interesting. And it makes numbers interesting for those who are not stuck on stupid and playing video games all day. It is a cool way to visualize and somewhat memorize a complex series of numbers.
If all the person did was roll them around in a circle next to each other. You "No Digg"'s would say it was because each point had a specific width on the line and since it was a specific size it can not be interesting since the size of the point was prepared and the resulting pattern is derived from the prepared size of the point and is not real. Yes I did mean to make that sentence run on a bit... At least this story is worth Digging unlike a lot of them that make it to the front page. - srikanthp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Coral cache:
http://www.numberspiral.com.nyud.net:8090 - Massif, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@ubermensch
Yeah, because wanting to be intelligent is a bad thing... - hometoast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1(site's hit hard) -> Coral Cache http://www.numberspiral.com.nyud.net:8090/
- CaffieneMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Very interesting. The numeric patterns are intriguing to say the least
- Zoobster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This was very, very cool. Good find, submitter.
- GatorVIP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you actually read through the website, the author touches on Ulam's spiral on page 4 or 5
- BleckLord, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ kjdude2003 & deepsub
From the bottom of page 1:
"Each integer V on the wheel has polar coordinates
radius = sqrt(V)
angle = sqrt(V)"
Its not like the arrangement was arbitrary. The system maps the series of positive real numbers onto a plane. It is a compelling visualization to say the least. - CaptHarlock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think more examples of things like this would be great and would stimulate more intrest in math by making it fun.
- jhunt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cool. I actually wouldn't mind having a poster of that to put on my wall.
- wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Double Dog Dugg" hehe, like that.
Ditto the double dog digg. - hfswagon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
If it were in three dimensions... - zenghost, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0?looks like some kind of fingerprint? they should beam this bad boy to space...lol
- LabattsBlue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Cool!
Maybe I just need more coffee, but... if I look at the spiral long enough I swear I see Elvis' face! :-) - MonkeyMonk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Makes my head hurt, but cool nonetheless.
Dugg. - burke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well. math is the basis of tech, I guess.
- audiothink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My previous comment got truncated. Is there no support here for HTML tags?
Again:
I'd be curious to get Daniel Tammet's take. He's the (recently dugg) savant who can articulate, to some extent, his creative math methods. The Guardian article explained that Tammet solves cube roots faster than a computer by manipulating "shapes, colours and textures." I wonder if, among his other techniques, Tammet wields number spirals in his head.
From the article:
"The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder. 'When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without having to think.'" - laughterkillsme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Patters ... mmm ... ever see the movie pi? haha.
- ronin9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Numbers are awesome.
- kjdude2003, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3The numbers are pre-arranged and aligned to form a pattern. Who would have thought?
- ursabear, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Cool! I love patterns! Especially those that are derived through non-art means!
- duke_nate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wickid cool
- srikanthp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0***** ... thanks hometoast
- jhendrix86, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0patterns + numbers = awesome
- wintermute0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Far from earthshattering, I'll admit, but a hell of a great time waster. Filled a sheet of looseleaf with this spiral while listening to a prof bunder through a lecture on cultural psychology.
- jump4jay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Reminds me of the Death Star!
- turgiddahlia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Very cool.
- repellent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The spiral is just a way of looking at how numbers align and relate wrt one another.
Perhaps lining up the numbers on the right according to a different criterion will review a better picture of how primes populate the spiral. If it helps provide even an inkling as to how to spot other unknown prime numbers, it will raise a lot of attention. - aKae, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0it would be cool to see how this would look in 3d space instead of just 2d.
i'll buy whoever does it a beer...or dohnut... whichever you prefer. - OmniOne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Aren't primes something akin to "near squares"? If so, then it would follow that lining up squares on one line would force prime numbers to be overly dense in other areas.
Or maybe I just need more sleep. - rookieone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0borring...yet...somehow amuzing....hmmm weird.
- turgiddahlia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You're a retard deepsub, by which I mean your faculties are quite literally retarded. The point is not to shatter the earth (if that were the case, then everything you have ever done or thought or experienced is irrelevant and meaningless, even to you, the subject), but to expose us to new and interesting and unfamiliar things. While your assertion is certainly true, it is without value - many of us, myself included, have not ever devoted a moment's thought the the geometric possibilities of number strings. The resultant patterns are fascinating and, in some ways, exciting, as they would open up whole new worlds to people hitherto ignorant of them.
- hcsteve, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1barkie: It is an urban legend that toilet swirling is caused by the Coriolis effect, as you describe. Water will swirl in different directions based on toilet geometry, the motion of the contents before you flush, and the way in which the flush water is injected.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect#Draining_bathtubs.2Ftoilets - audiothink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'd be curious to get Daniel Tammet's take. He's the (
- csbrooks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Like timecube, but even COOLER!
- bede, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Interesting
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Cool
- olorinpc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0very cool - thanks for putting it that way oepapel, saved me the time lol.
-olorinpc
http://www.sgbtech.com - antifuse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0übermensch: just because you don't get it, doesn't make any of the rest of us faux intellectuals for finding it interesting.
- holiday, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0my brain smells like burning
- treed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0We'll ride the spiral to the end.
We may just go where no one's been.
Spiral out. Keep going.
Dugg. - volatileacid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2what a waste of time! you'd never get that pattern if you as per the instructions on the site:
"To make one, we just write the non-negative integers on a ribbon and roll it up with zero at the center."
The pattern shown has been pre-arranged.
No digg. - Rodalli, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Swing on the spiral!
Weee! - Detour, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1A much better time killer:
http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/ -
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