DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Horizons, v. 6, issue 1, whole no. 20, September 1944

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Horizons, v. 6, issue 1, whole no. 20, September 1944

Page 6

                              ON DIT

Norman F. Stanley: "About the four fours games, Reed Dawson sent me the answer to my query, via Elarcy. It went like this: 4! plus 4! plus 4 equals 31 which is

summat different from that Bill Evans brings forth in the first Celephais. I'd meant to ask you how Singleton managed to do it with three and with two fours, but got sidetracked to other things and forgot about the whole business up until a few days ago when Bill's sheet and your letter brought it to mind. I kin make 31 out of three fours but hain't discovered how to do it with two, yet. Wonder what could be done with one four (or one at all??)? The problem of how high the unbroken series can be carried still baffles, though. Of course it's possible to set up certain isolated numbers, which can be as large as you please, simply by repetition of operators. Frixample (4444!)!)! --nope, that's wrong-- like this: (((((((((((((((((((((((((((4444!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!) Exciting, isn't it? '' Just though, you don't need all those parentheses, anyway. It could be written 4444!!!!!!!!!. That's quite a number. "Astronomical" is quite inadequate a description for it. That fabulous number which Jeans or Eddington or someone gave as representing the number of particles in the universe is infinitesimal alongside of it. Even Skewe's Number, which is the largest number ever to be put to any use in math. is negligible by comparison. Consider that 4444! is a number of 14,283 digits (I'd tell you what it is exactly, if I had a table of 14,283 logarithms and an office building full of computers and calculating machines.) That's only the firstep. 4444!! would be 10 14282! approximately. And so on. Mebbe we should send it to van Vogt for his "ultimate prime". Only it isn't prime. '' .......The one thing that fascinates me, though, is the spelling of the name of Claude's home town. I believe it is "New Castle" rathern "Newastle". Everyone, including CC headquarters, has it in the latter form. But the postmark is "New Castle" and I looked it up in an old reference book here and it was N C as of 1900, and Swisher looked it up, too, when I mentioned the discrepancy to him at the Bush League Boskone Sub One, and found it to still be NC. There's a Newcastle in Maine, but apparently it's New Castle, Indiana. I wonder why the dogged insistence on the other form? You'll hafta show me speed ray photos of those trick curve balls you mention in H. Only plausible expla I can think of is that the home team has electric heaters buried under the diamand at strategic points to set up those currents of warm air you postulate."

QM 2nd Class James S. Avery: "Only one thing struck me as peculiar at the time--his manner of eating. We had a beautiful catch ofsquare tail trout from one of the finest lakes in Maine for dinner that day (here my mouth waters at the pleasant memory!) Rogers enjoyed them of course that being the first time in his life he had made their acquaintance, but--he ate only one thing at a time! Now that in itself isn't too unusual being the French style and whatnot, but foa a Midwesternet, my folks and I thought it damned peculiar. Now I see it might have had some significance, however small."

Lora Crozetti: "......I thought it stunk, but I couldn't find Bob Tucker's article, pardon, story, so substituted it. I finally ran dear Roseboob's story down. Mother had tucked it into a copy of Weird Tales."

T. Sgt. N. E. Kenealy: "Yes, the powers that be broke down and gave me a furlough, seven days of it, to be completely informative about it, which I used in making mm a hurried dash to and from Sydney, pausing thereina few days for a bit of mild carousingon strictly a high plane of course. '' ....... My observations the complete details. The trolley is here to stay. I have now spent at least some time in the three major australian cities, and in all of them a bus is something that is in the far distant future."

Saving...

ON DIT Norman F. Stanley: "About the four fours games, Reed Dawson sent me the answer to my query, via Elarcy. It went like this: 4! plus 4! plus 4 equals 31 which is summat different from that Bill Evans brings forth in the first Celephais. I'd meant to ask you how Singleton managed to do it with three and with two fours, but got sidetracked to other things and forgot about the whole business up until a few days ago when Bill's sheet and your letter brought it to mind. I kin make 31 out of three fours but hain't discovered how to do it with two, yet. Wonder what could be done with one four (or one at all??)? The problem of how high the unbroken series can be carried still baffles, though. Of course it's possible to set up certain isolated numbers, which can be as large as you please, simply by repetition of operators. Frixample (4444!)!)! --nope, that's wrong-- like this: (((((((((((((((((((((((((((4444!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!)!) Exciting, isn't it? '' Just though, you don't need all those parentheses, anyway. It could be written 4444!!!!!!!!!. That's quite a number. "Astronomical" is quite inadequate a description for it. That fabulous number which Jeans or Eddington or someone gave as representing the number of particles in the universe is infinitesimal alongside of it. Even Skewe's Number, which is the largest number ever to be put to any use in math. is negligible by comparison. Consider that 4444! is a number of 14,283 digits (I'd tell you what it is exactly, if I had a table of 14,283 logarithms and an office building full of computers and calculating machines.) That's only the firstep. 4444!! would be 10 14282! approximately. And so on. Mebbe we should send it to van Vogt for his "ultimate prime". Only it isn't prime. '' .......The one thing that fascinates me, though, is the spelling of the name of Claude's home town. I believe it is "New Castle" rathern "Newastle". Everyone, including CC headquarters, has it in the latter form. But the postmark is "New Castle" and I looked it up in an old reference book here and it was N C as of 1900, and Swisher looked it up, too, when I mentioned the discrepancy to him at the Bush League Boskone Sub One, and found it to still be NC. There's a Newcastle in Maine, but apparently it's New Castle, Indiana. I wonder why the dogged insistence on the other form? You'll hafta show me speed ray photos of those trick curve balls you mention in H. Only plausible expla I can think of is that the home team has electric heaters buried under the diamand at strategic points to set up those currents of warm air you postulate." QM 2nd Class James S. Avery: "Only one thing struck me as peculiar at the time--his manner of eating. We had a beautiful catch ofsquare tail trout from one of the finest lakes in Maine for dinner that day (here my mouth waters at the pleasant memory!) Rogers enjoyed them of course that being the first time in his life he had made their acquaintance, but--he ate only one thing at a time! Now that in itself isn't too unusual being the French style and whatnot, but foa a Midwesternet, my folks and I thought it damned peculiar. Now I see it might have had some significance, however small." Lora Crozetti: "......I thought it stunk, but I couldn't find Bob Tucker's article, pardon, story, so substituted it. I finally ran dear Roseboob's story down. Mother had tucked it into a copy of Weird Tales." T. Sgt. N. E. Kenealy: "Yes, the powers that be broke down and gave me a furlough, seven days of it, to be completely informative about it, which I used in making mm a hurried dash to and from Sydney, pausing thereina few days for a bit of mild carousingon strictly a high plane of course. '' ....... My observations the complete details. The trolley is here to stay. I have now spent at least some time in the three major australian cities, and in all of them a bus is something that is in the far distant future."