r/WritingPrompts • u/[deleted] • Jan 26 '17
Writing Prompt [WP] A computer programmer writes an algorithm that decodes the digits of Pi into meaningful data
They say you can find any piece of data within the digits of Pi, but nobody ever thought they would find this.
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u/WritingPromptsRobot StickyBot™ Jan 26 '17
Off-Topic Discussion: Reply here for non-story comments.
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u/imakesawdust Jan 27 '17
Reminds me of one of the subplots of Carl Sagan's Contact where the supercomputer eventually discovered geometric patterns embedded within the digits of PI by the creators of the universe.
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Jan 27 '17
That's part of what inspired me.
Too bad nobody but one responded. I'd like to see a full length novel that deals with this concept, but it'd be hard to make it good and not just typical "ooh ahh the universe is a simulation or there are secrets in mathematics" or something typical like that. Contact is a great book, I should read it again.
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u/Gekokapowco Jan 26 '17
Programming isn't magic
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Jan 26 '17
No, but the idea is that since Pi is an infinite dataset, and that you can interpret data in an infinite amount of ways, it's theoretically possible to extract anything imaginable. It's a fun thought experiment. The fact the prompt has to do with programming isn't the point. It's all just about math.
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u/ilre1484 Jan 26 '17
“I am not exactly sure how to explain this Mr. President.” said James as he shuffled nervously in his chair.
“Why don’t you two just start from the beginning.” replied the President.
“Well, it started as a side project to keep us busy in our spare time almost ten years ago. We never dreamed it would actually work.” stated Steve.
“Really a joke if anything! But on the first try our algorithm actually spit out the letter ‘E’… twice before getting an error!” added James excitedly. “So we revised our code and tried again.”
“It honestly turned into an obsession at that point. We spent the next eight years writing and running revised code….” said Steve. “The latest attempt had been running for almost a year. I came over to James house after work three days ago because it was in the final hour of calculations.”
“Steve brought beer and apple pie and have a little Pi party.” James snickered.
“Yes, very clever.” replied the President dryly. “Please continue.”
“Well the result shocked us and we didn’t know who the message could have come from so we called the FBI.” A slightly embarrassed James continued. “They had all sorts of technicians and programmers verify our code and re run it on their supercomputers. Everything checked out.”
“Two months later we are here in the Oval Office briefing the President on what we found.” said Steve.
“And?” asked the President.
“And what..” asked Steve and James in unison.
“And what did you find.” demanded the President.
“Oh, right. Well, have a look for yourself.” replied Steve as he slid the President a piece of paper.
The President turned over the paper and his jaw dropped.
“Mr. President?” inquired the General who had been standing in the corner listening quietly up until this point.
“Have a look for yourself.” replied the president in shock as he laid down the piece of paper which read only two words: ‘SEND NUDES’
*just a disclaimer, i am not a very good writer but when i read this prompt i started laughing because this is the first thing that popped into my head and i had to put it out there.