I have concluded that the maximum number of DROD players that could ever exist on Earth between 1997 and forever is 29.5 quintillion. How did I arrive at this number? It was explained in the
January Illumination newsletter. Our official contest for the month asks you to create a numeral system that will represent any possible "
DROD Number"
. A DROD Number is a number between 1 and 29.5 quintillion which is assigned to a DROD Player to uniquely identify him.
We already have numeral systems that can do that. You're familiar with the Latin glyphs "
0"
through "
9"
and how they may be arranged using the Hindu/Arabic numeral system to represent whole numbers. (Yes, you are, even if you didn't recognize the names.) We could use that for representing the DROD Number, but it would do poorly for the first two of my four tests described below.
By the way, I have already came up with a functioning mechanism to assign DROD Numbers to anybody that wants one. In fact, your DROD Number has probably already been assigned. If you would like to know what it is, then, by all means, ask in
this other topic.
The Tattoo Test (Aesthetics)
The Tattoo Test is a measure of how aesthetically pleasing the depiction is.
I expect that we will have many people wanting to tattoo themselves with a uniquely-identifying depiction of their personal DROD Number. So it should be something that looks good, right? Nobody wants to skin-carve "
249999999999999999999"
on himself, after all. But maybe if this DROD Number depiction were some wondrous collection of interconnected lines and arcs, then it would have good tattooability.
Judging aesthetic appeal is subjective, but at the low end of the scale you have something like a bar code. There are people with bar codes tattooed on them, but the ugliness of the depiction is usually part of some irony or overall statement. At the high end of the aesthetic scale you've got... I dunno... Prince's Love Symbol, the thing he was using to identify himself while he went nameless. But you can't reuse Prince's symbol, because he already assigned it to himself as a unique identifier. And I could be wrong, but I don't think he devised a system to similarly represent people beyond just himself.
The Drawn In Blood Test (Elegance)
The Drawn in Blood Test is a measure of how efficiently a depiction of a number conveys information.
Suppose you lost a knife fight and were laying slumped against a wall with minutes left to live. It would be natural to leave one last mark on the world before you passed on. So you want to draw your DROD Number on the wall, but without any pen or lipstick on-hand, it will have to be painted with your own blood. In this case, you would hope that the numeral system was very efficient in generating a depiction of your DROD number. You don't want something like the Babylonian system that makes you draw triangles when simple dashes should suffice. The preferred system would let you identify who you are with a minimum of strokes. You've only got so much blood, after all.
The Cocktail Napkin Test (Encodability)
The Cocktail Napkin Test is a measure of how easily a depiction of a number may be encoded.
If you know somebody's DROD Number, how long would it take you to work out the depiction of it on cocktail napkins? Cocktail napkins are those flimsy, paper napkins that rip if you push a pen into them too hard. Would you sit there for seventeen hours and work through a case of napkins? One day, you may be called upon to scribble up a number using your system. And it's more impressive if you can do it on the spot instead of retreating to your laboratory with all the big computers.
The "Hey, I Know You!" Test (Decodability)
The "
Hey, I Know You!"
test is a measure of how easily a depiction of a number may be decoded.
So you're relaxing in a public steam bath, and you notice somebody next to you is sporting a sweet DROD Number tat. Hmmm, that DROD Number looks familiar. Is this person an old friend from back in the day, or maybe a bitter arch-rival? A good representation won't be hard to decode. Maybe you could work it out in a few minutes. And if you don't have to cart cocktail napkins into the steam bath, so much the better. We all know what a soggy mess that makes.
What are the Rules?
The numeral system that you devise and enter into the contest must meet the following submission criteria:
* The system uniquely depicts whole numbers from 1 to 29.5 quintillion.
* Each depiction for a number is repeatable, so that someone following your numeral system's rules will create a consistent depiction for any given number.
* The system's depictions must be two-dimensional and consist of marks visible to the human eye.
* The system is an original invention of your own, although borrowing ideas from existing systems is fine.
To submit your numeral system, please make a reply post to this topic following the format below:
- The text "For submission" at the beginning of the post. This indicates you are seriously submitting an entry and would like people to spend their time considering it.
- A depiction of the number one generated by your numeral system.
- A depiction of the number 29.5 quintillion generated by your numeral system.
- Optionally, you can include other sample depictions generated by your numeral system.
- Instructions on how to encode a number to a depiction. The instructions should work for the full range. The instructions should allow someone following them to arrive at an encoded depiction without using outside resources such as lookup tables, computer software, or other people.
- A description of how to decode a number from a depiction. The instructions should work for the full range. The instructions should allow someone following them to arrive at a decoded number without using outside resources such as lookup tables, computer software, or other people.
- Optionally, you can include other explanation text, observations, anecdotes, and whatnot.
The deadline for posting your submission is:
Local Time:02-18-2008 at 12:00 AM
If you have set your timezone under your forum profile, the above time will have been adjusted to an accurate local time.
You can make changes to your numeral system before the submission deadline. To do this, just edit your post to make the changes. An advantage to posting your numeral system early is that it may be discussed by the general forum population and give you ideas for improvement.
You may enter one, two, or three numeral systems. If you choose to submit multiple entries, please describe them in separate posts.
How Do I Win?
After the submission deadline has passed, some entries may be disqualified if they don't meet the submission criteria. The remainder of the entries will be rated by the forum community. Forum members will be asked to rate the entry on a scale of 1 to 10 for how well it succeeds in the four tests (Tattoo, Drawn in Blood, Cocktail Napkin, and "
Do I Know You?"
). Each entry then receives a score which is the average of all the ratings from each test and each voter. Winners are then chosen based on this score, with three prizes awarded.
It's possible for one person to submit multiple entries, but only one of his entries can win a prize. The winner of the first prize will not be considered for the second or third prize. And the winner of the second prize will not be considered for the third prize.
What Do I Win?
The first prize winner will receive 100 rank points and any single item of his choosing from
the Prize Pile. The second and third prize winners will receive 50 and 25 rank points, respectively. Someone who has never participated in a Caravel contest before will receive a 10 rank point "
rookie bonus"
for trying something new.
For anyone who is new to the forum, "
rank points"
are units of a little reputation system we use here. It's possible that if you have more rank points, people will respect you more, or something like that. The Prize Pile is a collection of several different prizes which are available to contest winners. Things like computer games, mousepads, t-shirts, and books. Many of the prizes are offered directly by other forum members out of the kindness of their hearts.
Thoughts on Strategy
A good starting point is to read a bit about numeral systems in some place like Wikipedia. Consider how well existing systems do against the four tests. You can maximize a numeral system to do well on one test, but it tends to come at the expense of doing poorly on the others. So finding the right trade-offs are necessary.
You may be bothered by the vagueness of definition for success in a test. Practically speaking, I can't give you an official definition. This is going to be decided imperfectly by public vote. You will be allowed to gather feedback prior to the vote, argue against other people's opinions, and change your entries. I understand the subjectivity can be dissatisfying, but I could not create a contest with objective rules without severely restraining the creative range of what people can enter.
I am hoping that we will see some interesting and insightful ways of depicting numbers.
-Erik
____________________________
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[Last edited by ErikH2000 at 01-23-2008 01:40 AM]
Maybe I will use smilies 
