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Re: Bandwidth? (fwd)
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From: [email protected] (Markus Laker)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Bandwidth?
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 1997 20:26:48 GMT
Craig Butz <[email protected]>:
> Has anyone else noticed that when some random number is called for in
> humorous writing, prime numbers are funnier?
> BCD, did you realize 5023 was prime, or was it some sort of comic intuition?
This is a stunning mathematical breakthrough. Large prime numbers are
used in fields such as computer cryptography, but until now no one has
had a fast way of testing large numbers for primeness. Presumably, all
we need to do is to read out large numbers to a carefully calibrated
test audience and see which ones make them chuckle.
This method gives British mathematicians the edge over American ones,
not because of our more subtle sense of humour but because of the way we
read out numbers. An American audience might titter at 'two hundred
seventy-three' because, although 273 is divisible by three, 73 is prime.
A British audience, hearing 'two hundred and seventy-three', would not
even register a smile.
Markus Laker.
(Sorry, Craig.)
--
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Emailed copies of responses are very much appreciated.
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Matthew Hunt <[email protected]> * Think locally, act globally.
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