Python/Perl Popularity (Re: A Mountain of Perl...)

[Boris Borcic]

Martijn Faassen wrote:

> Quick-someone-start-a-math-discussion!-ly yours,

I can propose my april's fool contribution that
was refused by sci.physics.research's moderation

--

1. Monstrous Moonshine Over Giordano Bruno

Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake at the
Piaza dei Fiori on February 17th, 1600, in Rome, for
heresy.

On the 400th anniversary of the event, a few weeks
ago, the catholic church acknowledged that its
method of defending "the Truth" had not been
up to the standards that Jesus promoted. It
nevertheless reasserted that Bruno was *wrong*,
an opinion that is in practical agreement with that
of many of Bruno's post-mortem defenders, starting
with Diderot, who presented Bruno in his encyclopaedia
as an example of Church victim, but depicted his work
as obscure and not really interesting.

Bruno's specialty was mnemotechnics. Here it will
be shown that mnemotechnical methods, such as those
employed by Bruno, are actually sufficient to defend
his memory without need for the help of half-hearted
opportunistic defenders.

1.1 Truly Visual Basic

The first step in the method, in today's words, is
called "Truly Visual Basic". Shortly put, the method
consists in representing letters, names, objects,
beings, facts, using arithmetical or mathematical
symbols that best mimic them in an iconic manner.

So we start with the stake to which Bruno was bound,
and represent it with the digit that best represents
it : a 1.

Then we represent Giordano Bruno himself, by his
initials, G and B, and in turn represent these using
the digits that best mimic them : 6 and 3, respectively.

This takes a bit of training to *see* : there is no
digit that mimics a capital G better than does 6.
And none that mimics a B, better than does 3. (it takes
a bit of effort, but the reader should be reassured, though,
that Truly Visual Basic (tm) is much easier to use
than is its namesake by Mr Bill Gates).

The stake and Giordano Bruno together give us : 163.

They were bound together, which we represent by
surrounding the above expression with parenthesis : (163).

Witnesses say that a priest presented Bruno with
a cross, while he was turning his head away : T(163).

This was taking place on a square, which we mimic
with the abreviation SQR. So we get to : SQRT(163).

The square, being a former horseracing stadium, is
and was actually round. This contradicts the standard
expectations stemming from the noun "square". So
we rectify this expectation by (a) marking the above
expression with an asterisk : SQRT(163)*, (b) giving
archimedes constant, the natural symbol for all that's
round, PI, as an explanation for the asterisk : *PI,
and (c) gluing both together for economy : SQRT(163)*PI.

This last expression is thus a representation for the
square and the public in it. These were spellbound to
the scene, just as GB was himself bound to the stake :
(SQRT(163)*PI).

Bruno was then burnt in *expiation* his purported
blasphemies, just as we today, are concerned with having
the church *expiate* for what it did to him. We represent
this by (a) reordering the expression in conformance
to mathematical standards : (PI*SQRT(163)), and
(b) prepending it with EXP, which gives us :

[formula I] EXP(PI*SQRT(163)) !

[...]

1.3 The Monster Group and its 196884-dimensional Space

The above is the title of chapter 29 of the famous
Book by Conway and Sloane, "Sphere packings, Lattices,
and Groups", which I cite as a shortcut to get back to
Giordano Bruno after the above digressions.

Recall formula [I] that we derived, using Truly Visual
Basic (tm), from the sorry fate of Giordano Bruno in the
hands of the catholic church. We shall show below that
the above cited telltale number of the famous Monster
Group's Moonshine, e.g. 196884, lurks behind that formula
(a fact that many know already, I am sure). We urge the
reader, first, to note that there is something moral to see
the Monster Group occur in the trace of a victim of
religious dogmatism such as Mr. Giordano Bruno. Indeed,
the Monster Group may rightfully be called the central
room of the castle of exceptional algebraic structures,
and religious dogmatism is nothing else than generalizing
rules above any measures, thus denying exceptions.

Computing formula [I] EXP(PI*SQRT(163)), using an
infinite precision package, gives us the strange value :

v := 262537412640768743.999999999999250072597198185688879353856...

Dogmatics, seeing such a value, will undoubtetly conclude
to a computer arithmetic error, and round the number to
262537412640768744. Actually, there is no error, and since
we despise dogmatics - if only because we are currently
encouraging the memory of one of their victims - we decide
to turn our attention on what they would discard : the
fractional part of the number v, most naturally expressed
as the difference to the rounded number.

w := ceil(v)-v = 000000000000749927402801814311120646143662663...

This isn't very handy, but groping around, we find out
that :

v*w := 196883.999999999918130677895382415018280732177224...

Which, having already proved that we are not dogmatic
about it, we feel no shame to round to the integer, (noting
also that it starts with 1968, a most undogmatic year) :

196884 - to discover the telltale sign of Monstrous
Moonshine over Giordano Bruno.

1.4 The Holy Trinity and Mary's Virgin Birth

Giordano Bruno's condamnation was motivated by his rejection
of a variety of dogmas, most notably the Holy Trinity
and Mary's Virgin Birth. (The unknowing reader should
be made aware that, contrary to a popular misconception,
the dogma of Mary's Virgin Birth refers not to Jesus,
but to the notion that Mary herself was born free of the
sequel of the original sin that Eve and Adam commited.

What proves the power of GB's mnemotechnics, is that if
we take the 196884 above, that we have obtained from the
picture of his torture, EXP(PI*SQRT(163)), multiply it
by 3 as a reference to the dogma of the Holy Trinity,
and substract the result, as a number of days, from the
date of Giordano Bruno's execution, we obtain a date
that is likely to be that of Mary's Birth, some 17
years before our era.

[...]