20 Questions - round 5
 

The goal is to guess what the OP is thinking of, within 20 questions (as a group).

The current rule set:[list=1][*]The original poster will state the general type (for the item thought of): animal, vegetable, mineral, mixed (to be used only when the object is quite mixed), other. [*]Yes or No are the main answers. The OP will try to stick with those without explanation.[*]Questions will be taken in turn. i.e. The second question may not be asked until the first is answered.[*]If the answer is "yes", the asker of that question gets to ask the next question, they may not ask it before the previous question has been answered. If the answer is "no", someone else gets to ask the next question and the asker that got the "no" answer must wait 24 hours before they can ask another question.[*]The asker must mark their post with the question number.[*]There maybe a 21st question of "Is it....", provided that the 20th question was answered "yes".[*]If it is successfully guessed, the one that got it gets to think up the next item.[*]Except 'point of order' posts, recaps, and clarifications: side discussions are discouraged.[/list]See [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_Questions[/url]

And here is the category for number 5:
[b][size="4"]Other[/size][/b]

Rather than PM someone with the answer and remove them from the game, I ran a string once through the SHA-1 hash function. This will make for easy verification that the answer was not changed part way through:
71520dbcee5e6f608d83dc1f11ce5c0138dcafa7

Obviously I'm not expecting anyone to guess the string exactly, but I will provide it at the end and it can be checked against the hash.

[size=1]BTW: You have to guess this before ~ Thursday night 22:00 UTC. If not then you will have to wait until I return from my trip (11 days) to complete it. Should be enough time though, no problem.[/size]

1) Is it related to math?
(since I won't be able to ask again for a while and we don't want to hold it up too much, here's an "in case of yes" question)
2) Is it related to Mersenne numbers?
(and why not another, on the off chance..)
3) Is it a Mersenne number?

[QUOTE=Mini-Geek;235863]1) Is it related to math?[/QUOTE]No. That would be far too easy for the all the smart folks here in this forum.

2) Is it man-made?

[QUOTE=lavalamp;235867]2) Is it man-made?[/QUOTE]Yes. Of course, "math" would have been considered man-made also, just needed to make that clear.

I understand, you're saying that abstract concepts are considered man-made also.

3) Is it a physical thing, or if it is an abstract concept does it have a physical manifestation?

For example, as Uncwilly said, a NAND gate is merely a concept, but of course there exist physical implementations too.[quote=Emo Philips]I had an argument with my father. I argued that Plato was the father of philosphy. My dad takes the opposite position, that I should wax the kitchen floor. I said, "Well, the kitchen floor doesn't exist. At least not in the permanent sense that the concept 'floor' does." He said, "Do you think the concept 'your skull' exists?" I said, "Yes." And then he surprised me by juxtaposing the two concepts.[/quote]As Emo Philips demonstrates, anything exists as a concept. :wink:

[QUOTE=lavalamp;235876]3) Is it a physical thing, or if it is an abstract concept does it have a physical manifestation?[/QUOTE]No really. To be pedantic [i]everything[/i] would have a physical manifestation as a thought (electrical currents) in the mind, or a concept written on paper (or posted into a forum) perhaps. But basically the answer here has to be "no".

4) Is this generally classified as emotion?

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;235885]4) Is this generally classified as emotion?[/QUOTE]Nope.

5) Would it be discussed or explained or investigated during the science education of a typical school age* American child?

*16 or under.

[QUOTE=Flatlander;235896]5) Would it be discussed or explained or investigated during the science education of a typical school age* American child?

*16 or under.[/QUOTE]I seriously doubt it. I can't say for sure since I've never experienced such an education, but "no", not during [i]science[/i] education.