Posted on 12/09/2018 9:53:48 AM PST by ETL
3.14etc is certainly ONE way of expressing the irrational number we call "pi".
Is it the only way of expressing that number?
Please think about my question some more ... first contact with an alien species (if such even exist) will require that we not make unwarranted assumptions about them.
‘ONE way’
Granted...Base this, that or the other....Nevertheless, I assume the first ‘contact’ will be a ‘signal’ and pi, i whatever base, will be universal..and a sign of understanding...
YES!
That's my point ... if we're looking for "pi", or "e", or whatever other "universal number", we need to make sure we'll recognize it when we see it. If "ET" is an octopus, he(?) probably won't use decimal numbers.
eiπ + 1 = 0 would be a great way of saying "I'm intelligent and sufficiently advanced to know math".
This Irish hag would be a babe ...In Boston.
Where they call pretty woman a tourist.
She looks scared or embarrassed.
Very pretty, though.
Might be the equivalent of millennials:
"Like, math is HARD, dude!"
Yankees fan aren’t ya.
My understanding is that SETI listens, it doesn’t transmit. Any pinging would be an issue if SETI actually heard something.
People should be paid to watch baseball, not charged for it.
Both teams should be renamed thou, to reflect their fans.
Boston Red Bolsheviks vs. Yankee Bolsheviks.
When the media was screaming it may be a space ship, we’re sure it is a spaceship, all I could think was that Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama” series was FICTION.
Thanks ETL. One of a kind opportunity, they had to take a look.
 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
| Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
That it came from a primitive civilization which didn’t know the value of pi?
So backward they couldn't figure out how to set the clock on their DVD players. :)
So you’re saying they would use a different base, but still use Hindu numerals? Why would you think that? It’s absurd.
No. I'm saying that even if we manage to figure out their numerals, we shouldn't ass-u-me that they're using the same base as us. I picked ONE (of many) ways to illustrate that even regarding universal constants, "ET" may think enough differently from us to make understanding very difficult. Why would you think otherwise? It's absurd.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.