FNORD
A mathematical understanding
Fnords. We all love fnords. You likely wouldn't be reading this
if you didn't stay up nights meditating on the mysterees of fnords. Fnord.
Well, you're not alone. It turns out that mathematicians have known about fnords
for years...they just didn't know about it (at least they're not talking).
From Game Theory comes a symbol
'*' (called "star") which denotes the value for the partisan game class {0|0}.
Don't fret about the meaning of the above, just gaze deeply into the Infinite
Eyes of Eris:
Now, the interesting bit comes into the value of *.
- * != 0
- * + * = 0
- -1/w < * < 1/w
- Where w is the smallest order of infinity
So here is a number that is not zero, but is its own additive inverse. Additionally,
it is simultaneously smaller than any positive real number and larger than any
negative real number.
It turns out that * is not real, nor is it imaginary. So what's left?
* is surreal. It occupies a higher level of reality than can be expressed
in normal reality.
FNORD! You can imagine my amazement at this discovery. My pineal gland has been
singing all day.
I'm not saying that this concept can fully represent the magnitude of fnord, but
it represents the unrepresentableness of the concept.
Fnord is neither * nor other than it.
I have learned nothing today, but what a wondrous nothing it is.
- St. Advan the Magick Carpet Cleaner and Monkey Consultant
- Pope, Chaplin, K.S.C.
- Boomtime,the 27th day of Chaos in the YOLD 3163
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