Tuesday 29 January 2019

Donnan's Second Moment Of Realization And A Solution?

Poul Anderson, After Doomsday, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

"So -
"It was like a knife-stab. For an instant his heart-beat ceased. He felt a sense of falling. The pulse resumed, crazily, with a roaring in his ears." (pp. 152-153)

That is a moment of realization. What was like a knife-stab? We will be told.

When I was at school, a teacher devising numbers to the base 15 suggested:

10 becomes T;
11 becomes E;
12 becomes D (for a dozen);
13 becomes B (for a baker's dozen);
14 becomes F;
15 becomes 10.

The conversion table gives us:

Monwaingi (obscure numerals unfamiliar to Ramri)
R=0
M=1
N=2
O=3
P=4
Q=5
MR=6

Kandemirian
L=0
A=1
B=2
C=3
D=4
E=5
F=6
G=7
H=8
I=9
J=10
K=11
AL=12

Thus:
Donnan says that BA=PM=25 and that ABIJ=MOQMP=2134 - but they don't work out that way for me.

8 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

We certainly see Poul Anderson's scientific training at work as readers like us try to make sense of the complexities of different number systems using different bases.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
But I can't see that these numbers work out the way Donnan says.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

We would probably need to have a trained mathematician analyze this to make sense of these number systems.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Donnan tells us which letters stand for which numbers, then seems to contradict this in the examples he gives.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Which is why it may need a mathematician to sort out this problem.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
But it looks like an overt contradiction.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I understand, but I don't pretend to know enough about mathematics to decisively settle the question.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
OK. I have slept on it and realized where I was going wrong with the numbers.
Paul.