Live data from Hacker News

What do numbers look like?

johnhw.github.io

1–10 of 55 posts

Re: What do numbers look like?

#3

Can someone explain to me like I am 5 ?

Convert numbers to a vector space represented by their prime factors:

  2 => [1 0 0 0...]
  3 => [0 1 0 0...]
  4 => [1 0 0 0...]
And map that high dimensional space back down to two dimensions (using some technique I haven't dug into yet). Colors are assigned by some scheme, later images help to illustrate how the particular clusterings happen like one where primes are rendered in white.

Re: What do numbers look like?

#4

Can someone explain to me like I am 5 ?

Convert numbers to a vector space represented by their prime factors: 2 => [1 0 0 0...] 3 => [0 1 0 0...] 4 => [1 0 0 0...] And map that high dimensional space back down to two dimensions (using some technique I haven't dug into yet). Colors are assigned by some scheme, later images help to illustrate how the particular clusterings happen like one where primes are rendered in white.

The whole thing seemed elaborately overly-formally-described and that just lessened the value of the cool graph.

Re: What do numbers look like?

#7

Can someone explain to me like I am 5 ?

Convert numbers to a vector space represented by their prime factors: 2 => [1 0 0 0...] 3 => [0 1 0 0...] 4 => [1 0 0 0...] And map that high dimensional space back down to two dimensions (using some technique I haven't dug into yet). Colors are assigned by some scheme, later images help to illustrate how the particular clusterings happen like one where primes are rendered in white.

other umap examples: https://umap-learn.readthedocs.io/en/latest/interactive_viz....

Re: What do numbers look like?

#8
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Convert numbers to a vector space represented by their prime factors: 2 => [1 0 0 0...] 3 => [0 1 0 0...] 4 => [1 0 0 0...] And map that high dimensional space back down to two dimensions (using some technique I haven't dug into yet). Colors are assigned by some scheme, later images help to illustrate how the particular clusterings happen like one where primes are rendered in white.

The whole thing seemed elaborately overly-formally-described and that just lessened the value of the cool graph.

"I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree. Then he says “I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing,” and I think that he’s kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe. Although I may not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is … I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty."

- Richard Feynman

Re: What do numbers look like?

#9
This is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in 2022 on the Internet, and there were some very good contenders. This provokes in me an immediate sense of beauty, and I'm compelled to read and understand as much of it as I can. Thanks for sharing this, I'm fascinated and amazed.

Re: What do numbers look like?

#10
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole thing seemed elaborately overly-formally-described and that just lessened the value of the cool graph.

"I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree. Then he says “I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing,” and I think that he’s kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbFM3rn4ldo
Post reply on HN