a-new-set-of-numbers
Original: a-new-set-of-numbers on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: A woman stands at a blackboard, speaking excitedly.
Woman: "I've discovered an entirely novel set of numbers!"
Panel 2:
Woman: "Primes are sometimes thought of as the 'atoms of numbers,' but primes are still divisible by themselves and by 1. There must be something 'sub-atomic,' something truly indivisible."
Panel 3:
Woman: "I call them INVINCI-PRIMES."
Panel 4:
Woman: "INVINCI-PRIMES can't be divided by ANYTHING."
Panel 5: She gestures toward the blackboard, which shows a number 2 with flexing muscular arms.
Woman: "Consider the first invinci-prime, INVINCI-2."
Panel 6: She faces the blackboard, which now reads "DIVIDE AND CONQUER" next to the muscular 2.
Woman: "I try to divide it by 2, and OH SWEET JESUS THAT'S BRUTAL."
Panel 7: Silhouetted figures. A skeptical man with sunglasses gestures at her dismissively. Two onlookers watch.
Skeptical man: "But you didn't do anything. You just made pictures on a blackboard, describing a meaningless concept!"
Woman (offscreen, speech bubble): "I AM A MATHEMATICAL FORMALIST!"
Votey:
Large hand-drawn number 2 flexing two muscular arms, with motion lines above it.
Caption: "THE DEUCE IS LOOSE"
Woman: "I've discovered an entirely novel set of numbers!"
Panel 2:
Woman: "Primes are sometimes thought of as the 'atoms of numbers,' but primes are still divisible by themselves and by 1. There must be something 'sub-atomic,' something truly indivisible."
Panel 3:
Woman: "I call them INVINCI-PRIMES."
Panel 4:
Woman: "INVINCI-PRIMES can't be divided by ANYTHING."
Panel 5: She gestures toward the blackboard, which shows a number 2 with flexing muscular arms.
Woman: "Consider the first invinci-prime, INVINCI-2."
Panel 6: She faces the blackboard, which now reads "DIVIDE AND CONQUER" next to the muscular 2.
Woman: "I try to divide it by 2, and OH SWEET JESUS THAT'S BRUTAL."
Panel 7: Silhouetted figures. A skeptical man with sunglasses gestures at her dismissively. Two onlookers watch.
Skeptical man: "But you didn't do anything. You just made pictures on a blackboard, describing a meaningless concept!"
Woman (offscreen, speech bubble): "I AM A MATHEMATICAL FORMALIST!"
Votey:
Large hand-drawn number 2 flexing two muscular arms, with motion lines above it.
Caption: "THE DEUCE IS LOOSE"
Alt text
A six-panel comic. A woman at a blackboard enthusiastically announces she has discovered an entirely novel set of numbers. She explains that primes are called the 'atoms of numbers' but are still divisible by themselves and 1, so there must be something truly indivisible and 'sub-atomic.' She calls them 'invinci-primes,' which can't be divided by anything. She points to the blackboard showing the number 2 drawn with bulging muscular flexing arms, calling it 'invinci-2.' When she tries to divide it by 2, she cries 'OH SWEET JESUS THAT'S BRUTAL,' and the board now reads 'DIVIDE AND CONQUER.' In the final wide panel, shown in silhouette, a skeptical man in sunglasses points at her and says she didn't actually do anything, she just made pictures on a blackboard describing a meaningless concept. She defiantly replies, 'I AM A MATHEMATICAL FORMALIST!' The joke is that her 'indivisible' number is just a cartoon muscleman who beats up the division. Votey: a large hand-drawn number 2 flexing two muscular arms with motion lines, captioned 'THE DEUCE IS LOOSE.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.