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Topic: Shapes for Numbers (Read 507 times) |
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mattian
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JocK
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Anwsering the obvious I'm affraid...
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solving abstract problems is like sex: it may occasionally have some practical use, but that is not why we do it.
xy - y = x5 - y4 - y3 = 20; x>0, y>0.
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mattian
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Fair enough.
Does that solution hold if three is represented by:
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JocK
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Re: Shapes for Numbers
« Reply #4 on: Nov 8th, 2005, 2:08pm » |
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If a triangle represents 3, and a square represents 4, I would say that a line segment represents 1, and a circle represents infinity. And to be able to represent 2, one has to rely on non-Euclidean metrics...
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| « Last Edit: Nov 8th, 2005, 2:14pm by JocK » |
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solving abstract problems is like sex: it may occasionally have some practical use, but that is not why we do it.
xy - y = x5 - y4 - y3 = 20; x>0, y>0.
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mattian
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In the context of the three and four given above, I arrived at the following solution:
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Grimbal
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see below
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Neelesh
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what about zero?
just a point?
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| « Last Edit: Nov 9th, 2005, 1:44am by Neelesh » |
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mattian
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Re: Shapes for Numbers
« Reply #8 on: Nov 9th, 2005, 7:23am » |
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That's cool -
As long as three isn't the triangle shown above. Also space is limited for large numbers.
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mattian
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Re: Shapes for Numbers
« Reply #9 on: Nov 9th, 2005, 7:37am » |
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on Nov 8th, 2005, 1:47pm, towr wrote:| One might go for a lense and circle instead. |
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I thought about that but it reminds me of a question on the online mensa test - If a circle is 1, what does an octagon represent? The answer, of course, is 8. But a circle comprises an infinite number of straight line segments suggesting that it should represent infinity, and that one should be represented by a single straight line. If there is a constraint that says all number representations must be closed, then a single straight line segment is invalid. So I concede that a circle can represent 1 and be considered a single straight line segment iff it is infinitely large. Two would the be represented by two infintely large circles, sitting on top of each other with differing directions of spin. There is then a simple equilateral triangle of any size.
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towr
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Re: Shapes for Numbers
« Reply #10 on: Nov 9th, 2005, 1:46pm » |
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on Nov 9th, 2005, 7:37am, mattian wrote:| I thought about that but it reminds me of a question on the online mensa test - If a circle is 1, what does an octagon represent? The answer, of course, is 8. But a circle comprises an infinite number of straight line segments suggesting that it should represent infinity |
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But infinity isn't a natural number, 1 is.
I was simply counting sides/curve-pieces.
There are other choices though. If you count corners, than two would still be a lense, but a circle would be zero, and one should have one corner.
Two could also be a heart 
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Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
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t1n0m3n
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My first thought is that a square is 4, a line is 2 and a period is one. But that was before I looked at the other people's answers.
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