The Prime Lexicon: A list of English words that are prime in base 36

syoutsey wrote: post #3

I'm a little confused...why did he use base 36 instead of base 26? Aren't there only 26 letters we need to convert to numbers?

Consider hex and base 64. Base 16 takes the first six letters from the alphabet to augment the number of available letters for representing a particular value.

I guess using base 26 would make sense from a strictly alphabetic standpoint, but we've conventionally included the numbers 0-9 as part of the available letters for representation.

Re: The Prime Lexicon: A list of English words that are prime in base 36

#5

Post by mkelly » Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 4:32 AM UTC

I already thought "zenith" was a fun word, and this just makes me like it even more. Yay!

Re: The Prime Lexicon: A list of English words that are prime in base 36

#6

Post by muck » Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 5:21 AM UTC

syoutsey wrote: post #3

I'm a little confused...why did he use base 36 instead of base 26? Aren't there only 26 letters we need to convert to numbers?

I guess they think words somehow include numbers

Re: The Prime Lexicon: A list of English words that are prime in base 36

#7

Post by imd » Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 5:23 AM UTC

I wonder if anyone will use this set of words for constrained writing.

Re: The Prime Lexicon: A list of English words that are prime in base 36

#8

Post by scottjackson » Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 5:35 AM UTC

muck wrote: post #6

syoutsey wrote: post #3

I'm a little confused...why did he use base 36 instead of base 26? Aren't there only 26 letters we need to convert to numbers?

I guess they think words somehow include numbers

From the looks of things, no leetspeak was included in the list, thankfully.

Re: The Prime Lexicon: A list of English words that are prime in base 36

#9

Post by filosofo » Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 5:47 AM UTC

imd wrote: post #7

I wonder if anyone will use this set of words for constrained writing.

Restriction? Henceforth, demonstration. You'd thought, "what person couldn't workup contrived composition?"

Re: The Prime Lexicon: A list of English words that are prime in base 36

#10

Post by ralphb » Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 5:52 AM UTC

My personal favourite:

PRIMETEST

But the list is surprisingly long, so not that surpring that something concerning primes would be in there.