Jefferson wrote: > Andrew Janssen wrote: > > >>Jeff, to what extent are espiri "protected" from their own magic? To be >>specific, the Scirus gleam allows the espiri to perform mathematical >>calculations. What happens when the espiri tries to: >> >>A) Calculate the ratio between a circle's diameter & circumference; >> >>B) Calculate the even-numbered root of a negative number; >> >>C) Divide by zero? >> >>For B & C, I could see the spell simply failing, but with A, or any >>other attempt to calculate an irrational number, could the espiri become >>trapped in a sort of infinite loop of calculation? > > > First, see the story "Sweetness and Light" > (http://www.meanspc.com/~jeff_wilson63/fiction/Sweetness.html) > > For case A) any calculation or measurement rite requires an espiri to > define how much accuracy is acceptable. If he or she fails to define that, > the result is a series of numbers which the espiri's mind cannot contain. > In gaming terms, this is a critical failure of the rite. Depending on the > espiri's ability he may babble numbers, fall unconscious, or simply realize > the mistake and accept the backlash to stop the rite in mid-progress. I > suppose an espiri could attempt to control the spell past the number of > digits his mind can hold and end up taking physical damage, but I can't see > that happening on Celandra. Ok, so in other words, if the espiri casts "Calculate the square root of two to seven decimal places," he or she is okay, but saying "Calculate the square root of two," without limiting it, could cause some form of backlash. > For cases B) and C) you must remember that the calculation rite doesn't add > mathematical ability. An espiri can only perform those calculation quickly > which he could otherwise do by hand. So, in these cases, the result is more > dependent on the results the espiri would get if he made the calculations > by hand. Since imaginary numbers are mystically useful I'd be surprised if > that idea didn't exist on Qaiyore, but I'm almost positive that the > calculus to properly handle C) doesn't exist yet. Ok, that answers *that* set of questions. I would imagine that Mir is well on its way to developing the calculus. I had some other concerns, like how the Scirus gleam handles the fact that number theory is omega-incomplete (a fancy way of saying that you can make true statements of number theory which cannot be proven using number theory), or how it deals with Euclidean v. Non-Euclidean geometry, but that's probably too esoteric. Andrew > Jefferson > http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/Exq_Main.html > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net. > ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
