scribbledecobble: F

Fictional

FAQs

imagine all the questions . . .

· · · + d₂ × b² + d₁ × b¹ + d₀ × b⁰ + d_1' × b^-1 + d_2' × b^-2 + · · ·

Q: Why is zero the number of the first question in this ordered list of questions?
A: Using zero to refer to the first item in an ordered list highlights the important role zero plays in computing. In fact, zero matters for more than one reason. Computer programmers often used zero-based numbering when referring to elements of an array. And zero is one of two numbers often used to denote the state of a bit. (Do you know the other one?) Words used to describe the state of a bit include on vs. off and high vs. low.

Q: Why is 1 the loneliest number, followed by 2?
A: Because, according to Prabhas Tiwari, “it is 1 and only. And 2 is the only even prime number. So all other numbers belonging to the set of whole numbers are jealous.” (And nature abhors a vacuum.)
But two is special for other reasons too. For one thing, a binary number is a number expressed in the binary numeral system or base-2 numeral system, and digital computers usually compute using binary numbers. (Computers can be designed to work with numbers expressed in other bases too, but one way or another the digits of those numbers must be encoded using sequences of of so-called ones and zeros. See the Wikipedia article Binary-coded decimal.) The number two is also crucial to the all-important computer science discipline now known as analysis of algorithms, mainly because computer programs often include two-way branches.

Q: Are there other numbers I should know about?
A: Well, we just passed e, known as Euler’s number, which is of eminent importance in mathematics, which is of central importance to computing. There’s Three Dog Night, of course. And don’t forget all those digits of π, which is on the horizon. According to the Wikipedia article Pi, John von Neumann was part of the team that first used a digital computer, ENIAC, to compute π.

Q: Hold on. What’s going on here?
A: The number four in decimal is ‘100’ in binary.

Q: Very clever, mister. What are you going to do when you run out of space in the margin?
A: I figure I’ve got room for about eight digits. If you ask more than 256 questions, I’ll put a Hex on you.

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Q: What’s the difference between a Turing machine and an Intel microprocessor?
A: It’s the same as that between Hillary’s pursuit of The White Whale and the establishment of Trump Plaza in its spout.

Q: What’s the smallest perfect totient number to be neither a power of three nor thrice a prime?
A: That would be 255 or FF₁₆ wiseguy.