NUMBERS | Part Six

Please, just before going to sleep,
look up for a while at these bays and straits again,
with all their stars, and
don't reject the ideas or dreams
that come to you from them.

Herman Hesse
Magister Ludi

Kenning Game

THESE ARE NOT NUMBERS

Background:
I am building a floor from stone . . . . matching and fitting stones in a floor.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
These are not numbers, he says.

Who said that?
Who are you? I ask.

Let's just say that I am a teacher, he says.

A teacher? I ask.

My name would be just a name. My name would have no meaning for you, he replies.

Well . . .
What do you mean these are not numbers? I ask again.

Look at the stone floor that you are laying.
How do you get the stones to lay flat? he asks me.

I place and fit them into the sand and match them to the other stones
by the length of their sides, I respond.

Yes, you have
a mosaic
a puzzle
a game . . .
Yes, you do fit them.
Just like you fit your numbers to match a geometry.
You fit your numbers to a circle.
You fit your equations of numbers to all sorts of shapes. . . .
parabolas, hyperbolas, circles, ellipses, even fractals, he says.

I still don't understand, I respond.
What do you mean these are not numbers?

Where did the stone come from? he inquires.

I guess, they came from a quarry. Some craftsman took a large rock and cut it into small flat stones for the floor.

Yes, the quarry is the universe.
That rock is the geometry.
That rock is the real numbers.
Your digits
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
are to numbers | what this floor is to the original rock.

Remember ratio analysis? he asks.

Ratio analysis? I repeat.

Your digits here - - - Fitted stone floor
------------------ : -----------------------
Real numbers here - - Original rock geometry

Solving for
real numbers = (your digits) X (original rock geometry) / stone floor

Now take it higher, he says.

Higher? I ask.

Advance it one dimension, he directs.
OK, what do you get??
What is your visual??

My visual? I am unsure.

I'll have to get back to you on that one . . .

Archive | Game One | Part Seven


New Game Theory