Random stuff that goes bouncing around in my skull
 

Here's some random stuff I think about when I daydream:

-Would aliens be offended by the word "inhumane?"
-Could the anti-Christ end up being an extra-terrestrial?
-If I admit that I think Jesus was black, will my white friends hate me?
-Can spiritual gifts work through a tv?
-Does the part of the brain that maps out sensation in a penis work the same way with a vagina, and do things match up in the brain across genders? (For instance, maybe stroking the head of the penis feels the same as stroking a clitoris and the concept of inside and outside the body is something we learn with our other senses)
-Will the highest known prime number always be of the form 2^n-1, and is it possible other bases could take the top position, at least temporarily?(Possibly by including a k value)
-Will computers always be base-2, not including artistic stuff?
-If I point out Obama is also white, therefore also counting as a white president, will people hate me?

space mission
 

What have space mission and mythical aliens got to do with pure mathematics?

[QUOTE=devarajkandadai;442711]What have space mission and mythical aliens got to do with pure mathematics?[/QUOTE]

Something to do with probability, probably.

[QUOTE=devarajkandadai;442711]What have space mission and mythical aliens got to do with pure mathematics?[/QUOTE]The post is in the lounge. That part of the forum is certainly not devoted to "pure mathematics".

Jacob

[QUOTE=jasong;442700]Here's some random stuff I think about when I daydream:

-Will computers always be base-2, not including artistic stuff?
[/QUOTE]

A long time ago the Russians built a computer that used [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_ternary"]balanced ternary[/URL]. It had the drawback that some fractions like 1/2 have two equally valid representations.

As a practical matter, I guess it depends on how many natural states each bit of your hardware has. If there was some physical system that could flip rapidly between more than two states, maybe you could use it for computation.

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer[/url]

[QUOTE=GP2;442728]A long time ago the Russians built a computer that used [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_ternary"]balanced ternary[/URL]. It had the drawback that some fractions like 1/2 have two equally valid representations.[/QUOTE]The word "bit" comes from the contraction of "[b]b[/b]inary dig[b]it[/b]". I am looking forward to ternary computers because then we can call the smallest unit of representation "[b]t[/b]rinary dig[b]it[/b]s".

:offensive:

[QUOTE=retina;442733]The word "bit" comes from the contraction of "[b]b[/b]inary dig[b]it[/b]". I am looking forward to ternary computers because then we can call the smallest unit of representation "[b]t[/b]rinary dig[b]it[/b]s".[/QUOTE]

I never thought abou tit that way before.

Tieautiful! Hehe. :tu:
Now I can't get out of my brain the image from the "Total Recall", that with the lady with three ternary digits....

how do most people pronounce a base one machine ... an idiot ( iddy it is how most seem to pronounce it) okay this is more for the dumb jokes thread.

[QUOTE=Mark Rose;442736]I never thought abou tit that way before.[/QUOTE]Unfortunately, the standard term appears to be "trit".