h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'd say that falls distinctly into the useful bin.

That does seem useful.

After being prime in bases 1584 and 1589, the next base in which the number represented as 111110101011110010111110000010001 is prime is 2030.

Sorry, Julzes, but that can't count as useless. Someone, somewhere in their nerdish, extreme mathematics world would find that useful.

But then, I suppose that can be said of anything, so that means that the one useless thing is this message thread

Technically any post on this thread could be useful.

You just never know. You might be kidnapped by a mad scientist's minions. And they may give a choice.

Answer this question correctly or we kill you...

From which university did the Professor on Gilligan's Island earn his M.A.?



If you didn't read this thread, you might not have known that it was Southern Methodist University in Texas and you would have been shot by minions.

Oh, and the Professor's character name was Roy Hinkley.
The minions might have turned the thumb screws on you for not knowing that.

and Gillian's second name was........dada...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfW-ab6JZdk&NR=1

(those minions seem pretty mean)

But if you didn't know, then you could bargain with the deadly minions by offering them some interesting facts that they didn't know. Then you could quote a whole host of info from this very thread. This would not only inform, educate and entertain them, but also buy you time to devise your means and route of escape.

(PS Are we getting a bit too deep into this, or do you think being captured by the MINIONS is likely? If so, shall we start up an undercover group and infiltrate them?)

This may actually have some value, but here goes anyway:
82818079787776757473727170696867666564636261605958575655545352515049484746454443424140393837363534333231302928272625242322212019181716151413121110987654321 is the only prime in its sequence.

In base 25, the first where it makes sense (with the letter 'O'), both GOD and ALLAH are primes (10613 and 4247767 in base ten).

BUDDHA in base 31, similarly, is not a prime, but it is 4 times a prime--85756651 in base ten--and reversing this prime and changing numbers to letters gives IS99SLS8, and this in base 31 makes the prime 327344493793 in base ten.

Sorry: The latter base should be base 29.

In base 35, YAHWEH and ALLAH both make primes (1801519807 and 15932717, base ten). GOD does not. BUDDHA is never prime in any base--always divisible by 2--but the base ten representation of its value as a base-32 number has a nice string of four 3's--623333280--and the value of O8ZEEEEZ9 in base 36 has to be divisible by 9. What we get is the base-ten number 68410609187157=9*76011798573 for O8ZEEEEZ9=9*2OZXLLLNX in base 36. The factor is not prime. It is reversible in both cases, though. ELS86LIIO9L as a base-29 (for the largest digit, S) number is equal to 6208700243134024, which is manifestly divisible by 8; but the remaining factor, 776087530391753, is prime and it is reversible since it lacks the digit '4'. ESLI6EOESL8O9LL as a base-29 number is a big useless composite number. The same is true when its base-ten digits are reversed and when base 36 is the starting point instead of base 29. Is the fate of XN777X20Z any better? Not as far as I can see. It's all definitely useless anyway.

That's all very well, all you base number addicts, but what about in other languages?

Y'know, Dieu or Deo or whatever?

God doesn't just exist in English and Hebrew and Arabic

Find a prime number that spells out "Flying Spaghetti Monster".

Or better yet, NIGHTHOOVER.

I'll give NIGHTHOOVER a shot. Just a moment.

Is anyone going to take up my challenge? Dieu or Deo?

NIGHTHOOVER is always divisible by three and divisible by two in odd-numbered bases. The best I can do with it is that it's three times a prime for the first two times in the consecutive cases of base 108 and 110 (if I counted right). FlyingSpaghettiMonster coming up.

Taking the lower case letters as dits following the upper case ones, FlyingSpaghettiMonster is a prime in both base 114 and base 140, and I didn't look at anything outside the range base 61 to base 160.

Got a thing for math, Julzes?

This post will get us past the screen overflow.