RE : End of infinite sequence

[Eric Angelini]

Hello Maximilian,
 
> In every existing encyclopedia, choices must be made
> and are made on what to include, and what to omit
 
... yes, I think this has been already discussed before ;-)
 
> there's so much arbitraryness in that definition...

... yes, I fully agree, but... Three remarks:
 
- I have a rather known predecessor who proved a few inte-
resting things by means of words transformed into integers,
and even by long (german) statements transformed into single
(huge) integers, and (also) by means of self-referentiality;
- "mathemagicians", have to re-enchante the world; show this
sequence to some youngsters -- you will see how their eyes 
will soon blink, how their smiles will open after a few words
of explanation. Self-reference is always fun, tricky, weird.
I guess the OEIS is there for that too;
- The same remark (to re-enchante the times) is valid for 
infinite sequences "having no start" but a precise end. Do 
you know many of those? Show the problem the other way round 
to those youngsters (if they are still there): "Could you
folks figure out an infinite sequence -- by the left?" They
will probably say it is impossible -- the smartest ones 
hopefully reversing an existing OEIS seq (as I stated in my
very first post).
 
So, I've sent this seq to the list hoping to raise half a
smile somewhere, and give some stuff to present (or future) 
imaginative "mathemagician teachers". We must share our 
enthousiam for math -- and I think this "arbitrary", "chan-
ging with time", "concatenated", "discarding", "english/
latin" sequence is, well... nice, in a crtain way ;-)
(showing how the seq. can be "translated" in other languages
is of interest also, no? I have a french and an italian 
version available for anyone interested ;-)
 
My two re-enchanted cents.
E.
[this sequence has been tested on fully aware and accepting
teenagers; none of them has been hurt; all European laws
about student working hours and student overtime have been
respected. All characters except Kurt Gödel and the two Maxes
are fictive. Music (directed and composed by CPU & Fan) is 
available at Amazon.com. Computed on location in Brussels,
Belgium. This mail can be reproduced anytime anywhere in part 
or in full -- having in mind it weights 0,037 ECMT (Equivalent
Carbon Metric Ton)]
 
 
________________________________

De: Maximilian Hasler [mailto:maximilian.hasler at gmail.com]
Date: mar. 05/06/2007 18:36
À: Eric Angelini
Cc: seqfan at ext.jussieu.fr
Objet : Re: End of infinite sequence



"Of course" Max's reply is in principle the right method to code a
sequence that is "infinite into the negative direction".
However, personally I frown a bit upon the fundamentalness of that sequence.
Chosing the English language (orthography of which is "arbitrary" and
changing with time) and the "latin" alphabet (which is itself changing
in time),
deciding to concatenate letters of words like twenty-two (i.e.
discarding spaces and/or dashes, contrary to the written definition
which takes up 4 lines...), but putting 0 for an inter-word space
resp. comma, ...
there's so much arbitraryness in that definition...
In every existing encyclopedia, choices must be made and are made on
what to include, and what to omit....

M.H.

On 6/5/07, Max Alekseyev <maxale at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6/5/07, Eric Angelini <Eric.Angelini at kntv.be> wrote:
> >
> > Hello Seq-fans,
> > this is the end of an infinite sequence (no start, infinite
> > amount of terms, but a precise end):
> >
> > ... 20,23,5,14,20,25,20,23,15,0,6,9,22,5.
> >
> > How could I enter such a sequence in the OEIS?
>
> Why not reverse the order and turn it into a regular sequence:
>
> 5, 22, 9, 6, 0, 15, 23, ...
>
> ?
>
> Max
>


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