[002]
Robrecht
Current Version
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Except that the whole thing relies on aliens \'recognising\' dividing prime numbers as getting results that are \'untidy\'. Many a mathematics teacher\'s been annoyed by those students who, when explained that prime numbers are special because they can\'t be divided by anything except 1 and themselves, maintain that \
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Except that the whole thing relies on aliens \\\'recognising\\\' dividing prime numbers as getting results that are \\\'untidy\\\'. Many a mathematics teacher\\\'s been annoyed by those students who, when explained that prime numbers are special because they can\\\'t be divided by anything except 1 and themselves, maintain that \\\"sure they can, you just get something behind the decimal point\\\".
If the aliens in question use a type of notation or follow a school of thought where decimals are accounted for without such a clearly defined separation marker as a decimal point, their prime numbers might be very different. (for instance, they might consider 1/10, 1/9, 1/8, 1/7, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 to be the first 10 natural numbers, in which case 3 isn\\\'t a prime number at all (and in fact, in their notation, there aren\\\'t nearly as many prime numbers, if any).
This seems strange to us, because we like to think in whole numbers, how would you even represent that in those pulses you wrote out? Why such a system might even be said to be completely \\\'\\\'alien\\\'\\\'.
Note: I did not add the original claim.
If the aliens in question use a type of notation or follow a school of thought where decimals are accounted for without such a clearly defined separation marker as a decimal point, their prime numbers might be very different. (for instance, they might consider 1/10, 1/9, 1/8, 1/7, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 to be the first 10 natural numbers, in which case 3 isn\\\'t a prime number at all (and in fact, in their notation, there aren\\\'t nearly as many prime numbers, if any).
This seems strange to us, because we like to think in whole numbers, how would you even represent that in those pulses you wrote out? Why such a system might even be said to be completely \\\'\\\'alien\\\'\\\'.
Note: I did not add the original claim.
Changed line(s) 1 from:
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Except that the whole thing relies on aliens \'recognising\' indivisible prime numbers as \'untidy\'. Many a mathematics teacher\'s been annoyed by those students who, when explained that prime numbers are special because they can\'t be divided by anything except 1 and themselves, maintain that \
to:
Except that the whole thing relies on aliens \\\'recognising\\\' dividing prime numbers as getting results that are \\\'untidy\\\'. Many a mathematics teacher\\\'s been annoyed by those students who, when explained that prime numbers are special because they can\\\'t be divided by anything except 1 and themselves, maintain that \\\"sure they can, you just get something behind the decimal point\\\".
If the aliens in question use a type of notation or follow a school of thought where decimals are accounted for without such a clearly defined separation marker as a decimal point, their prime numbers might be very different. (for instance, they might consider 1/10, 1/9, 1/8, 1/7, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 to be the first 10 real numbers, in which case 3 isn\\\'t a prime number at all (and in fact, in their notation, there aren\\\'t nearly as many prime numbers, if any).
This seems strange to us, because we like to think in whole numbers, how would you even represent that in those pulses you wrote out? Why such a system might even be said to be completely \\\'\\\'alien\\\'\\\'.
Note: I did not add the original claim.
If the aliens in question use a type of notation or follow a school of thought where decimals are accounted for without such a clearly defined separation marker as a decimal point, their prime numbers might be very different. (for instance, they might consider 1/10, 1/9, 1/8, 1/7, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 to be the first 10 real numbers, in which case 3 isn\\\'t a prime number at all (and in fact, in their notation, there aren\\\'t nearly as many prime numbers, if any).
This seems strange to us, because we like to think in whole numbers, how would you even represent that in those pulses you wrote out? Why such a system might even be said to be completely \\\'\\\'alien\\\'\\\'.
Note: I did not add the original claim.
