Quantum 2 mongooses

[Fred Brackin]

A thing that occurred to me is that Infinity knows that there are theoretically an infinite number of worlds out there but they can't access them all.

It appears to be all wrapped up in the Tau-Gamma equation. That's the 200 term super-equation that provides the co-ordinates for using conveyors. I presume that all those worlds you can't access are because their Tau- Gammas are too different.

So if you were to look at the Tau-Gamma for the United States of Lizardia you'd probably find at least some familiar terms. Probably the ones that control language use and gross history.

So, if the Cross-Time Mongooses have an overlapping range of possible worlds with Infinity there must be some basic level of similarity. Perhaps they use English the way Lizardia does.

They could have their own parallels and echoes and Infinity might not be able to get there (directly) even if they are in Q3 or 4 but Tau-Gamma theory seems to say that there are limits on how alien they can be.

[AlexanderHowl]

Or they could be using a different type of math that allows them broader access to parallel worlds (a two hundred term equation using a base-16 math system might produce much different results than the same equation using base-10 math).

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Or they could be using a different type of math that allows them broader access to parallel worlds (a two hundred term equation using a base-16 math system might produce much different results than the same equation using base-10 math).

Strictly speaking, the example doesn't work- any number in base 10 can be converted to one (and only one) number in base 16, and vice versa, so solving an equation in base 16 will give you the same number of solutions as solving it in base 10. That said, I agree there is scope for methods of cross-world transportation that lead to world inaccessible to infinity's conveyors and projectors.

[AlexanderHowl]

Base-16 works better for computers than base-10 (and you are using computers for two hundred variable equations). When you use base-10 math with a computer, you have subtle errors with the math when translating from base-10 to binary and from binary to base-10. In everyday life, these errors are correctable by secondary mathematical programs, but it starts getting weird when you have lots of variables.

With one hundred variables in an equation, the cumulative errors would probably cause a 1% error term for the equation while two hundred variables the cumulative errors would probably cause a 10% error term for the equation. With a base-16 math, there would be no errors caused by translating mathematical systems. Infinity and Centrum probably miss a lot of time lines because their coordinates are off the majority of the time.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Base-16 works better for computers than base-10 (and you are using computers for two hundred variable equations). When you use base-10 math with a computer, you have subtle errors with the math when translating from base-10 to binary and from binary to base-10. In everyday life, these errors are correctable by secondary mathematical programs, but it starts getting weird when you have lots of variables.

With one hundred variables in an equation, the cumulative errors would probably cause a 1% error term for the equation while two hundred variables the cumulative errors would probably cause a 10% error term for the equation. With a base-16 math, there would be no errors caused by translating mathematical systems. Infinity and Centrum probably miss a lot of time lines because their coordinates are off the majority of the time.

No, also no, and furthermore very, very, very no.

There are no errors in 'translating' between bases unless your technology is grossly defective.

Now, if you're using finite-precision calculations, which are common though not strictly compulsory in computational methods, you do get 'subtle' errors from values being truncated in all sorts of operations, and what those errors are will depend on the base is being used. On the other hand, our computers historically tend to have used binary rather than decimal significant figure limits for floating point...

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Base-16 works better for computers than base-10 (and you are using computers for two hundred variable equations).

Have you read a defence of the base 16 floating point arithmetic in IBM mainframe computers and assumed it was generally applicable? If so, you should know that the use of base 16 was a design error, which IBM tried to defend for years, but eventually admitted by adding conventional binary floating point.

[Steve Jackson]

Without getting into the specifics of other bases, about which I have learned nothing new since elementary school: It is very consistent with my view of the parachronic multiverse that - from our limited point of view - 1+2 does not always equal 2+1. The parachronic equations contain a lot of terms that we don't know about; we are visiting timelines where those unknowns cancel out or resolve to something simple (perhaps something simple that we call a "quantum" without understanding it in the least).

We *usually* can't reach the places where the electron is a neutral particle or pi is equal to 3. We'd die instantly. But we seem to be able to reach some places where we DO die instantly, or can't get home, or . . . something.

See Stephen Baxter's RAFT for a description of a universe with some very different rules, where humanity, somehow, can survive.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec

The real question is what happens when Mongooseworld stumbles on a timeline of high-tech magic using cobras.

They're on Quantum -1, and have a bit of a cold war going with the mongooses, who would be willing to accept assistance from Infinity in said war.

[Tom Mazanec]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

They're on Quantum -1, and have a bit of a cold war going with the mongooses, who would be willing to accept assistance from Infinity in said war.

Reminds me of the Selay and the Anticans.