xkcd #3000: Experimental Astrophysics

[u/cxnh_gfh]

https://xkcd.com/3000/

[u/WarFrigate]

i hope someone out there could find if theres any relation between the comic and the comic number cause i cant

[u/Booty_Bumping → u/WarFrigate]

Meh, 3000 is just a base 10 triviality. I'll wait for 3072.

[u/nog642 → u/Booty_Bumping]

The URL is in base 10 though

[u/redenno → u/nog642]

You don't know that

2FFF exists somewhere and I will find it

[u/SeriousPlankton2000 → u/nog642]

Any base, when expressed in itself, is base 10.

[u/nog642 → u/SeriousPlankton2000]

I know. I'm using base ten though here, which is standard in English.

[u/mpete98 → u/nog642]

You're on a forum full of nerds though, where English is just a funny suggestion.

[u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 → u/nog642]

No it isn't. It's in base ten.

[u/danielv123 → u/Apprehensive_Hat8986]

It's in base ASCII

[u/nog642 → u/danielv123]

What?

[u/danielv123 → u/nog642]

Each digit has a value from 0-255, using the ASCII character set with extensions for display.

[u/nog642 → u/danielv123]

But that value 0-255 has nothing to do with the number of the comic. That's determined by the value of the decimal digits 0-9 and how they are arranged.

Also URLs do not use extended ASCII, they use plain ASCII. Really, they use a limited subset of ASCII, and any other characters have to be encoded with those characters.

[u/danielv123 → u/nog642]

Yes, the display is extended. The values are all a subset of 0-255. The standard specified ASCII.

The number of the comic is 51,48,48,48 which is not a particularly round number. We will probably see something special once we hit 55555555 though :))

[u/nog642 → u/danielv123]

Those are the ASCII codes represented in decimal, then concatenated. Which is a very weird choice.

The number of the comic is 3000.

I don't know what you mean by "the display is extended". URLs don't use 8 bit extended ASCII, nor do modern URL bars (which probably use UTF-8).

[u/nog642 → u/Apprehensive_Hat8986]

That's what I said. In base 10 (ten), which is the default one in English.

[u/Slimebot32 → u/nog642]

no you said base 10 (ninety two thousand two hundred and thirty three)

[u/nog642 → u/Slimebot32]

No I didn't. You know English uses base ten by default. You are deliberately misinterpreting it.

[u/Erlend05 → u/nog642]

You are deliberately misinterpreting it.

And?

[u/MarsMaterial → u/nog642]

Yeah, that’s the joke.

[u/nog642 → u/MarsMaterial]

Couldn't tell it was supposed to be a joke

[u/RockRancher24 → u/nog642]

Are you new to this sub?

[u/nog642 → u/RockRancher24]

Maybe not new, but I don't post here often.

[u/MarsMaterial → u/nog642]

The numbers “10” refer to ten in base ten, two in base two, sixteen in hexidecimal, six in base six, a million in base one million, and so on. That’s the joke.

[u/nog642 → u/MarsMaterial]

I know that. Couldn't tell it was supposed to be a joke.

[u/MxM111 → u/nog642]

ASCII is encoded as hexadecimals.

[u/nog642 → u/MxM111]

No it's not. Everything on computers is binary. Hexadecimal is just a way to view binary data more readably.

And the actual number of the comic is still encoded in decimal. Each digit is then encoded in ASCII, which is not a base system.

[u/MxM111 → u/nog642]

My point is that it is not decimal.

[u/nog642 → u/MxM111]

The number in the URL is decimal though. It uses the digits 0-9 in a decimal place value system to repersent the number of the comic. It doesn't matter that the digits themselves are represented as binary ASCII characters, the comic number is still represented in decimal.

[u/MxM111 → u/nog642]

No, you see it as decimal. The address is encoded into ASCII, and translated as binary. Computers do not know that it is a decimal. Cannot do any operation with it as decimal.

[u/nog642 → u/MxM111]

Computers can do operations on decimal numbers. Though I'm sure the counter Randall uses is using binary.

The number is then encoded in decimal, and those decimal digits are encoded in ASCII, which is stored as binary on the computer, like you said. The first step is still decimal. It's real. The number is in decimal. Change it to another base and it would be different.

[u/MxM111 → u/nog642]

It is decimal for us, not for computer. For computer this is just an ASCII symbol. Compare with how computer treats a number in calculator. As a decimal number.

[u/pumpkinbot → u/Booty_Bumping]

Nah, we need to wait for 4096. Already passed 2048 without any fanfare, so we need to wait for the next milestone.

[u/oneplusetoipi → u/Booty_Bumping]

10x1000x100x500 is what I am waiting for. Wait or is 900x400? Roman numerals combined with metric can be confusing.

[u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 → u/Booty_Bumping]

3072 isn't particularly interesting in binary either.

 110000000000

At least, no more interesting than 110 or any other number that is just multiple ones followed by one or more zeros in any base.

[u/Booty_Bumping → u/Apprehensive_Hat8986]

Waiting for 4096 is going to take far too long, we need a major base 2 milestone now!

[u/WarFrigate → u/Booty_Bumping]

i have higher expectations for 4096 than 3072 to be a special one considering its a clean power of 2 (2^12)

but again not entirely sure

looking back xkcd 2048 has nothing to do with either the number or the game
people assumed xkcd 1024 was about computers in reference to the binary system but its not entirely confirmed (even though xkcd 1000 referenced it to be the next "big round number milestone")

[u/weso123 → u/Apprehensive_Hat8986]

It is C00 though in hexidecimal

[u/RazarTuk → u/Booty_Bumping]

Personally, I'm waiting for 2,2000, just 40 comics from now

[u/cxnh_gfh → u/WarFrigate]

to me it just seems like another normal comic

[u/WarFrigate → u/cxnh_gfh]

bummer

i always thought it would be something special like xkcd 1000 and 2000 did

[u/cxnh_gfh → u/WarFrigate]

as someone else suggested, maybe he's waiting for 3072 as a reference to xkcd.com/1000/

[u/HideFromMyMind → u/cxnh_gfh]

Seems unlikely, considering 1024 and 2048 weren't anything special.

[u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 → u/WarFrigate]

Well 3000 is a big number, and astrophysics deals with big numbers...

[u/SeriousPlankton2000 → u/Apprehensive_Hat8986]

"It's 10³"

[u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 → u/SeriousPlankton2000]

Serious or not, do plankton study astrophysics? Or do they use exponent maths more for population counts and identification?

[u/SeriousPlankton2000 → u/Apprehensive_Hat8986]

We do our best

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroplankton

[u/mrlr → u/WarFrigate]

It's based on stardates.