History Main / NonNaturalNumberGag

* When the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' spin-off people were selling official ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' football shirts, Ponder Stibbons's shirt number was given as 1.618; the Golden Ratio.

-->'''Alt Text:''' The company tried to document how often employees were celebrating Software Testing Day, but the recordkeeping system kept mysteriously crashing.

* ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'': Strip #487 features "A Guide to Numerical Sex Positions", which starts out normal ([[{{LOL 69}} 69]], 99, 71), [[ComicSutra then gets weird]] (34, the square root of 8, and the natural logarithm of 2π), driving the lady helping demonstrate the positions to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere give up and walk away]].
-->'''Alt Text:''' We didn't even get to the continued fractions!

[[folder:Jokes]]
* ''The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck'' joked about kissing your 2.5 kids goodbye (it's joking about how a Gallup poll showed 2.5 is considered the ''average'' ideal number of children in a family, and pretending that a single family could precisely match that ideal).
[[/folder]]

** In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', Mr. Pump declares that Moist, though [[ConMenHateGuns he never physically harmed anyone himself]], his crimes lowered his victims' life expectancies such that he's killed the equivalent of 2.338 people. Moist wonders how you can kill a fraction of a person anyway.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Literature/IForcedABotToWriteThisBook'', the dating profile for "Gwendy" lists her age as "π ± ∞".

* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' is about Charlie and Alan Harper, two grown men, and ten-year-old Jake, the eponymous "half".
* Australian sketch comedy show ''Full Frontal'' once did a skit called "Nerd Lotto", where, apart from the first number ([[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy 42]]), the numbers drawn were things like pi and Graham's Number.[[note]]which ''is'' an integer, just one that's vastly larger than expected for the context[[/note]]

* In the "North Minehead By-Election" sketch on ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', Slightly Silly candidate Kenneth Phillips-Bong got "naught" votes, which implies he didn't even vote for himself!

* In normal ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' sets, cards' stats are always given in whole numbers. In joke sets ''Unglued'' and ''Unhinged'', creatures with fractional Power and Toughness, and even fractional ''mana costs'' can be found, including all of the Donkey characters (Bad Ass, Cheap Ass, Smart Ass, Fat Ass and Dumb Ass) because [[StealthPun they're half-assed]].

* In the "Claptastic Voyage" DLC for ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'', Handsome Jack meets up with the Vault Hunters on Deck 13 1/2, a hidden floor between Deck 13 and Deck 14 of Helios.

[[folder: Music]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Video]]

* Franchise/LooneyTunes:

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Wild Cards" takes place in RealTime as the League attempts to defuse several bombs that the Joker has placed throughout Las Vegas. The whole thing is [[DoNotAdjustYourSet being televised by the Joker]], and there is even a countdown clock in the corner of the screen, set to 22 minutes, fifty-one seconds.
-->'''Joker:''' Oh what where you expecting from me? A round number?

** The original cartoon "WesternAnimation/DuckDodgersInTheTwentyFourthAndAHalfCentury", plus its spin-off series.

* Creator/BillyConnolley has a pastiche of "Ten Guitars" called "Nine and a Half Guitars".

In a context where the viewer expects a natural number, like 1, 2, 10, or a billion to be used, a number from a larger set, like pi, infinity, three quarters, or negative twelve is used instead. It's funny because it makes no real-world sense. In formal mathematical jargon, this is a violation of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_of_discourse domain of discourse]].

* In UsefulNotes/{{India}}, there's an organization that distributes [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_rupee_note 0 rupee bills]]. They aren't intended to be used as currency, but rather to shame officials that ask for bribes.

* One comic of ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' has a mother introducing her 1.5 children. The .5 child is missing one side of his body. (This is an {{Homage}} to ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth''; see below under Literature.)

* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', [[https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4647 Aurelia texts her daughter Claire]] inviting her to come over because Aurelia needs to tell Claire something. Claire responds, "On a scale of "I took a pottery class" to "I have a terminal illness", how worried should I be?" (Aurelia's fine.)

In a context where the viewer expects a natural number, like 1, 2, 10, or a billion, a number from a larger set, like pi, infinity, three quarters, or negative twelve is used. It's funny because it makes no real-world sense. In formal mathematical jargon, this is a violation of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_of_discourse domain of discourse]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Wild Cards" takes place in RealTime as the League attempts to defuse several bombs that the Joker has placed throughout Las Vegas. The whole thing is [[DoNotAdjustYourSet being televised by the Joker]], and there is even a countdown clock in the corner of the screen, set to [[NonNaturalNumberGag 22 minutes, fifty-one seconds.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[BeyondTheImpossible This is less than worthless!]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a893c27ce938b5d97745c1de8fd129a2.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[Memes/GravityFalls This is]] ''[[BeyondTheImpossible less]]'' [[Memes/GravityFalls than worthless!]]]]

* In ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'', Milo learns of a [[LiteralMetaphor perfectly average family]] with exactly 2.58 children, among other similar quirks. The 0.58 child doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear, and is the only one who can drive their fractional car.

* One comic of ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' has a mother introducing her 1.5 children. The .5 child is missing one side of his body.