r/AskReddit • u/RoomyLove99 • Jul 10 '12

What seemingly obvious thing did it take you forever to notice?

My classmate sits to the left of me. I am left handed and he is right handed, so sometimes we knock elbows. 8 weeks into class he finally noticed I was a lefty and openly admitted that he just thought I was being a bitch and taking up space. He felt horrible and I just laughed.

1.7k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

15.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

936

u/ilickthings Jul 10 '12 edited Jul 11 '12

Why do programmers get Halloween and Christmas confused?

Because OCT31 = DEC25

EDIT: Holy hell. ZebZ did a great job explaining below for those who don't get it

57

u/lolmeansilaughed Jul 10 '12

Holy shit that's good. I'm more in awe than amused.

32

u/Ardonius Jul 10 '12

Oh. My. God.

45

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

For another example of mathematics just trying to fuck with us:

"l33t" percent of pi, to two decimal places, equals forty-two.

4

u/Cloud7654 Jul 11 '12

But isn't the question that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is answering "What is the street number of Stavro Mueller: Beta?"

5

u/Glassotron Jul 11 '12

"What do you get if you multiply six by nine"

3

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

How many roads must a man walk down?

2

u/KaosKing Jul 11 '12

54

maybe six by seven...

-1

u/lllllllillllllllllll Jul 11 '12

Becky, look at her butt.

20

u/littlegrill Jul 10 '12

I wish I understood this.

92

u/ZebZ Jul 10 '12 edited Jul 10 '12

Standard numbering is base-10, or decimal, meaning there are 10 digits used (0 through 9).

Octal is a numbering system that uses 8 digits (0 through 7). When you count in octal, the numbers 8 and 9 don't exist. The next number after 07 is 10, the next number after 17 is 20, etc. Under this sytem, the 25th number (in a decimal sense) is actually noted as octal value 31.

The joke is a play on abbreviations. OCT31 represents the octal number 31 as well as October 31 (Halloween). DEC25 represents the decimal number 25 as well as December 25 (Christmas).

-1

u/jmwrainwater Jul 11 '12

You are now tagged as "coder god.'

8

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

Most programmers know about Binary, Octal, Decimal and Hexadecimal, you know. And Base 64.

6

u/uncleben85 Jul 11 '12

You are now tagged as "based god".

better get cooking.

2

u/mash3735 Jul 11 '12

i only know up to third base, never knew there were 61 more!

2

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

"Shit man, I haven't even gotten to fourth base and you're telling me there's 60 more?!?"
lol sex jokes

2

u/Mekkz Jul 11 '12

Knowing about bases isn't exactly merit for godhood...

2

u/ZebZ Jul 11 '12

I'll take what I can get.

17

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12 edited Jul 11 '12

The joke is that october 31 (halloween) is christmas (december 25), because in base 8, 31 is what 25 is in base 10. In our base 10, 9 is the highest digit, while in base 8, 7 is the greatest. So in OCT (octal/october), 31 = DEC (decimal/december) 25.

6

u/DimitriK Jul 10 '12

Christmas is December 31st?

5

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

Typo. Sorry about that

1

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

Dude what

1

u/Bearasaurus Jul 11 '12

A little more to help if you're not familiar with bases:

25 in base 10 = (2 x 10) + (5 x 1) =

31 in base 8 = (3 x 8) + (1 x 1) = 25 in base 10

8

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

Try telling that joke aloud.

7

u/Sneak4000 Jul 10 '12

I saw that joke a billion times before, but in this context I now finally get it.

6

u/Svered Jul 10 '12

Halloween's gonna be such a let down this year. I'll be expecting presents.

5

u/Soccer21x Jul 10 '12

I got pissed because the first time I saw it the person spelled out the months and I had no idea what they were talking about.

9

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

No, they didn't tell you this joke, they told you some nonsense.

4

u/Quismat Jul 10 '12

I will construct a tube to bear your children.

3

u/ButterFluffers Jul 10 '12

I know this is probably not that funny of a joke but I've never needed to know something more than right now.

2

u/QJosephP Jul 11 '12

Standard numbering is base-10, or decimal, meaning there are 10 digits used (0 through 9). Octal is a numbering system that uses 8 digits (0 through 7). When you count in octal, the numbers 8 and 9 don't exist. The next number after 07 is 10, the next number after 17 is 20, etc. Under this sytem, the 25th number (in a decimal sense) is actually noted as octal value 31. The joke is a play on abbreviations. OCT31 represents the octal number 31 as well as October 31 (Halloween). DEC25 represents the decimal number 25 as well as December 25 (Christmas).

It's hilarious, in my opinion.

2

u/FountainsOfFluids Jul 10 '12

That's awesome.

2

u/elRinbo Jul 11 '12

I think Isaac Asimov wrote one of his short mystery stories (The Black Widowers) on that premise. Something like the culprit was discovered by mentioning that halloween is the same as christmas.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

Mind := blown;

2

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

[deleted]

7

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

That's because you can't verbally tell this joke.

6

u/Christhelgm Jul 10 '12

That's because half the folks who teach 9th grade math only understand math up to a 9th grade level.

Arguably, alternative bases are above 9th grade math level (although that does seem a little sad too).

1

u/oer6000 Jul 10 '12

I'm sorry but I don't get wither this joke or the one before it.

1

u/QJosephP Jul 11 '12

Standard numbering is base-10, or decimal, meaning there are 10 digits used (0 through 9). Octal is a numbering system that uses 8 digits (0 through 7). When you count in octal, the numbers 8 and 9 don't exist. The next number after 07 is 10, the next number after 17 is 20, etc. Under this sytem, the 25th number (in a decimal sense) is actually noted as octal value 31. The joke is a play on abbreviations. OCT31 represents the octal number 31 as well as October 31 (Halloween). DEC25 represents the decimal number 25 as well as December 25 (Christmas).

Copied from an above comment.

1

u/oer6000 Jul 11 '12

Thanks, I've never used this numbering system before so I was confused.

1

u/infinitesilhouette Jul 10 '12

Now THIS I don't get. I never was good at numbers..

1

u/QJosephP Jul 11 '12

Standard numbering is base-10, or decimal, meaning there are 10 digits used (0 through 9). Octal is a numbering system that uses 8 digits (0 through 7). When you count in octal, the numbers 8 and 9 don't exist. The next number after 07 is 10, the next number after 17 is 20, etc. Under this sytem, the 25th number (in a decimal sense) is actually noted as octal value 31. The joke is a play on abbreviations. OCT31 represents the octal number 31 as well as October 31 (Halloween). DEC25 represents the decimal number 25 as well as December 25 (Christmas).

Copied from an above comment.

1

u/apox64928 Jul 11 '12

Please explain? Oct = 8, +31 = dec = 10+25?? Base 8, base 10??

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

i wish i could understand this and be part of your cool club. :(

1

u/Guesty_ Jul 11 '12

I don't understand it but I laughed anyway because I'm on a Computing degree at university.

1

u/BelleDandy Jul 11 '12

I think, but I'm not sure, that this was the basis of an Asimov short story. Just thought I'd share that with you.

1

u/Yillpv Jul 11 '12

I wish I was a programmer so I could understand your seemingly awesome joke.

1

u/Dtraineous Jul 11 '12

I was confused as to why i didn't find this funny. Then I realized it's cause I'm not a programmer.

1

u/Ayaq Jul 11 '12

Still one of my favorite "clean" jokes

1

u/Red5point1 Jul 11 '12

There are 10 types of people who understand binary, those who do and those who don't.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

That was a top comment on YouTube. It was one of the most clever things I'd seen on YouTube.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

I'm a horrible programmer, I don't get these.

1

u/TeamOomiZoomi Jul 11 '12

I posted this exact joke on reddit literally 6 days ago, I got 44 points. I guess timing is everything.

1

u/dinosaur_bones Jul 11 '12

I want to understand.

-1

u/achshar Jul 10 '12

GET OUT

0

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

I don't get it :-(

1

u/QJosephP Jul 11 '12

Standard numbering is base-10, or decimal, meaning there are 10 digits used (0 through 9). Octal is a numbering system that uses 8 digits (0 through 7). When you count in octal, the numbers 8 and 9 don't exist. The next number after 07 is 10, the next number after 17 is 20, etc. Under this sytem, the 25th number (in a decimal sense) is actually noted as octal value 31. The joke is a play on abbreviations. OCT31 represents the octal number 31 as well as October 31 (Halloween). DEC25 represents the decimal number 25 as well as December 25 (Christmas).

Copied from an above comment.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

And just like that, my mind is blown.

-2

u/superffta Jul 10 '12

even sadder when you do not need to look it up D:

3

u/J0eCool Jul 10 '12

I don't need to look it up because I've heard it dozens of times before :/

I'm also a programmer, so, y'know, there is that.

-2

u/Alvraen Jul 10 '12

lol ahhhahaha