Wednesday 8 July 2015

significant digits or wholly unscientific post-script

By way of an update and smattering of reflection, I found that the brilliant Jason Kottke shared in the absolute stupefaction and wonder when it came to the Fibonacci sequence revealed in a rather tame division problem. I also really appreciated how Kottke channelled Carl Sagan—namely his novel Contact—and pondered if this sort of coincidence wasn’t something akin to the code buried in the number ∏ that showed that the intelligence behind the design of the Universe was intentional and knowable. Also an explanation was offered that was by no means disenchanting—as if it was just a numerical sleight of hand, like the pictured recursive mathmagic, brain-teasing trick I was surprised to find reproduced in Hocus Pocus. I had come across a variant of this one before, which is I think something quite different, and aside from fact-checking, can you see where the delusion that cancels everything out lies?  Do you think the Fibonacci numbers will also be shown to be some kind of misapprehension too?