explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2237: AI Hiring Algorithm

2019-12-04T19:34:29Z

172.68.34.82:

Not sure this has to do with deepmind. Deep is a term used generally for recurrent neural networks.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.82|172.68.34.82]] 19:34, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

1889: xkcd Phone 6

2019-11-15T22:31:22Z

172.68.34.82: /* Explanation */ The dominant 4k standard is 3840x2160, not 4096 which is DCI 4K and unless the phone is a movie projector that likely isn't it.

{{comic
| number = 1889
| date = September 13, 2017
| title = xkcd Phone 6
| image = xkcd_phone_6.png
| titletext = We understand your privacy concerns; be assured that our phones will never store or transmit images of your face.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the sixth entry in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], and once again, the comic plays with many standard tech buzzwords, and horribly misuses all of them, to create a phone that sounds impressive but self-evidently isn't to even the most ignorant customer. The previous comic in the series [[1809: xkcd Phone 5 ]] was released 7 months before this one and the next [[2000: xkcd Phone 2000]] was released 8 and a half months later.

This comic was released the day after Apple announced their new {{w|iPhone 8}} and the higher-end {{w|iPhone X}} (pronounced iPhone 10) with facial recognition features.

===List of features (clockwise from center/top)===

; Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
: A front camera has become a common feature of smartphones. The camera lens is located on the same side of the phone's case as the main screen, making it possible to capture the image of the user's face looking at the screen and display the interlocutor's face on the screen simultaneously, enabling video chat. However, as the camera is usually located above the screen, when the user looks at the displayed image of the other person they direct their eyes at the center of the screen and not at the camera's lens. This makes it appear on the other end of the chat as if the person talking was looking down and not making eye-contact, which can be an uncomfortable situation for many people. For this reason, professionals involved in movie or TV-making, like actors or reporters, are trained to look straight into the camera's lens while talking, which creates impression of looking straight at the viewer's face. During a video chat, however, looking into the lens of an above-screen camera does not allow one to see the interlocutor's face clearly because it is then in the peripheral field of vision.

: To solve this conundrum, Randall proposes locating the camera lens right in the middle of the screen. The user looking at the the other person's face on the screen would then also be looking at the lens, creating an impression on the other end of the chat that they are looking straight at the other person. This is absurd, since the lens would then take place of some of the center pixels of the screen, which would probably mean that it could not display the center part of the captured image of the other person's face. This could include features such as eyes and/or lips, which play an important part in non-verbal communication. Locating the camera lens in this way would probably also interfere with the touch-screen function. It would probably make other applications on the phone difficult to use, since virtually no user interface is designed to accommodate a blind spot in the center.

: The idea of having the camera in the middle of the screen is only currently absurd, however, as advances in technology may eventually enable such a feature to work without disturbing the appearance or function of the phone's display, unlike the visual disturbance clearly indicated in the comic. For instance, previous technological advancements have improved the functionality of the display, starting with adding touch sensing. The touch sensitive hardware of the phone is located in a thin layer above the hardware, that generates the image for the display, and capacitive touch sensing technology is less obtrusive than previous resistive sensing. While it has yet to be released to market, certain manufacturers are aiming to place a phone's fingerprint reader underneath the screen, for seamless functionality. Although it may be difficult at this point, figuring out a way to have a camera capture images through the array of pixels on the screen is not completely beyond imagination.

; Full-width rear camera
: Historically, there has been an 'arms race' among phone manufacturers to increase the 'size' of the rear camera, in terms of the number of pixels they can capture. This is not typically accompanied by equivalent increases in physical size, though. Phone cameras tend to have lenses which are quite small, and round or square -- measuring the same in width as in height. On this phone, the 'full-width' lens appears to be a long, thin strip, like an oval or rectangle shape. This could allow the camera to gather a lot more light, potentially working in low light situations. However the lens would be more vulnerable to damage and dirt. Unless a very large sensor was used, focusing the image could be a problem, since cell phones are typically not very deep.

; CDC partnership - phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year
: U.S. {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}} is a government agency tasked with addressing public health concerns, such as infectious diseases, including seasonal flu. A common way of limiting the spread of an infectious disease is {{w|Vaccine|vaccination}}, which most often involves administering a specially prepared vaccine via an {{w|intramuscular injection}}, though researchers have investigated other delivery systems, including aerosol, or microneedle injection. Uptake of vaccination is often poor, and many governments routinely use various different campaigns and techniques to try to encourage more people to get themselves vaccinated.

: This feature implies that the phone would automatically perform some form of injection once a year, administering a vaccine via a small aperture while the user is holding the phone to his or her cheek during a call. However, the placement of this component is dubious, as it would line up with the user's ear, rather than their cheek, during a phone call. It may be designed to detect the fraction of a second during which your cheek would be in the appropriate position (perhaps after a phone call, as you may be dropping the phone from your ear), and administer it at that moment; this would conveniently prevent disturbances to a majority of conversations.

: A further absurdity to this feature is that the vaccine is different every year, in order to account for various mutations causing different, and typically new, strains of the virus, which is the reason it has to be administered yearly. The CDC bases the combination of strains on a best-guess of what will be the most significant strains in circulation over the upcoming year, so in order to have the current year's vaccine, the user would have to physically load the new version into the phone for later administration, or there would have to be a mechanism to synthesize the concoction on-board the phone, and an associated logistics framework and digital standards for OTA delivery of specifications for the year's vaccine.

; 12-function
: Most smartphones can be used for more than twelve different things{{Citation needed}}. However, this may refer to the twelve basic functions of algebra (identity, squaring, cubing, square root, logarithm, exponential, reciprocal, sine, cosine, greatest integer, absolute value, and logistic), or the twelve function keys on a modern keyboard (more than the ten on the original IBM PC keyboard). Alternatively, it may be a reference to calculators: basic models are sometimes referred to as four function calculators (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), and complex scientific calculators may advertise 250 or more functions.

; Dishwasher safe
: Waterproofing has become a much-pushed feature of many recent smartphones, with manufacturers competing on the claimed resilience of their models. A phone that was truly dishwasher safe would be ahead in this race, as it would have to be able to withstand high-pressure jets of water, high temperatures, and caustic effects of detergent over significant periods. This is often listed as a selling point of items used for preparing, serving, or storing food, such as plastic containers or crockery, which a normal person might want to clean using a dishwasher, but it seems excessive for phones, which are rarely cleaned with anything more than a quick wipe, and most people would not intentionally attempt to clean in a dishwasher.

; GPS transmitter
: Many smartphones have a receiver for the {{w|Global Positioning System}}, which allows a phone to compute its position based on signals from the constellation(s) of GPS satellites. However, a device with a "GPS transmitter" would broadcast signals that would interfere with the GPS receivers of all devices nearby. This might be used in some form of differential GPS, broadcasting signals from a known location to allow more precise determination of other locations, or such a system might be used to confuse or control devices, such as drones, which navigate using GPS.

; 3-G acceleration
: This is a mixture of three unrelated concepts with similar names. In computer graphics, "{{w|Graphics processing unit|3-D acceleration}}" refers to GPU hardware that speeds up handling of three-dimensional data, such as shapes rotating in space. In physics, "3 Gs of acceleration" refers to speed increasing at a rate of 3 times the acceleration of Earth's gravity, or approximately 30 m/s². In cellular networks, {{w|3G}} refers to a standard for data communication. GPUs, accelerometers, and compatibility with 3G networks are all normal features of modern smartphones. "3-G acceleration", however, is not a real term, and doesn't describe any meaningful feature of a phone. It appears to suggest that either the phone is capable of self-propelling with 3 Gs of acceleration, which doesn't seem particularly useful, or, perhaps more feasibly, that it has some way of increasing the data transfer rate over a 3G connection.

; Portable, solar-heated
: Portability is pretty much the entire point of using a ''mobile'' phone, so advertising portability is rather redundant. Solar ''power'' charging could be a very useful feature on a phone, but solar ''heating'' usually applies to plumbing, where a water tank is heated by the sun and used to supply hot water to taps. Technically, as the sun heats up everything it shines on, the phone is in fact solar heated. However, since avoiding overheating is a particular challenge in smartphone design, deliberately capturing solar energy simply in order to heat the device would seem rather counter-productive.

; Pore-cleaning strip
: Pore-cleaning strips are sticky strips designed to be applied to the skin and then pulled away to remove dirt and oils from the pores, with the intention of reducing spots and improving the complexion. The location shown for this feature would be inconvenient and irritating, as it would come into contact with the face every time the phone was held to the ear to make a call; something sticky on that location would be very annoying for clean-shaven people and extremely painful for anyone with facial hair. It would probably also result in that strip of the screen becoming obscured by an accumulation of facial gunk. Pore strips have been mentioned before in [[777: Pore Strips]].

: This may act as a sensor for the ''Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock'', whereby the phone would collect the dirt, oils, and microflora from the user's face when it is pressed against the phone, and use it to verify their identity.

; Maximum strength
: Medicines are often sold as "Maximum strength", usually indicating that they contain the highest dose of active ingredients allowed by law, or allowed without a prescription. For phones, there are sometimes "hardened" or "ruggedized" versions, which are designed to survive harsher environmental conditions, such as surviving drops and collisions, excessive water, dust, etc. ''Maximum strength'' here could indicate such a "ruggedized" phone, though this would be hard to achieve with a screen that extended past the edges.

; Never needs sharpening
: Phones do not need to be sharpened in the first place{{Citation needed}}. This is a feature more likely to be found in a knife advertisement -- the slogan is infamous for hawking knives that ''cannot'' easily be sharpened, like a serrated blade -- or a mechanical pencil. Since the screen goes past the edge, it might be sharp enough to cut through things, much like a knife, though the phone would be unsafe to carry and handle if that were the case{{Citation needed}}.

; Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
: This is a play on the common IP-rating of water resistance, which is typically rated for submersion to a rated depth for 30 minutes. A phone which could only be used or carried for 30 minutes before it needed to be immersed in water would be rather inconvenient, especially if it was still susceptible to short-circuiting, as most electronic devices are when submerged.

: Alternatively, either this phone's target market could be whales, dolphins, or other marine life, such as octopodes, or the feature could be optional. While such a feature would prove to be extremely useful for aquatic customers, the "solar-heated" feature would undoubtedly be inhibited significantly as water depths increased.

; Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight
: The {{w|National Audubon Society}} is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of nature, and mainly of birds, which also organizes open {{w|birdwatching}} events. There are apps that attempt to identify bird species, for example, from a [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.labs.merlinbirdid.app&hl=en_GB photo] or [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.birdsongid&hl=en_GB audio recording] of a bird made by the smartphone itself, though the Audubon Society's [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.audubon.mobile.android&hl=en_GB own app] does not offer anything this interactive. An app developed by Offingapp (company that took part in the development of technology) [http://offingapp.com/ app developers company] allowing you to control the bird's flight would be way cooler and might work using the built-in GPS transmitter, confusing their navigation systems. However birds do not use GPS to navigate{{Citation needed}}, and it would fly in the face of the Audubon Society's core activity. This is a reference to {{w|Unmanned_aerial_vehicle|drones}} (which could be thought of as artificial "birds") which are often controlled by a smartphone app. This may also be a reference to [[1425: Tasks]], in which an app that can recognize if a bird is on camera is proposed.

; Extra screen
:Some phones advertise an additional display or display mode, often giving access to basic information, such as battery level and notifications without needing to activate the main screen function. Typically, this would be a low-power mode of operation of the normal screen, or else a form of display on another surface of the phone, such as the side or rear. Here, it seems to be an oddly shaped rectangular extension on the bottom of the main screen. This may have been added to make up for the loss of screen estate due to the center camera.

; Wireless charging port
:A port for {{w|Inductive_charging|wireless charging}} is an oxymoron, since wireless charging has no wires and thus has no need for a port, unless it is required for fuel for a fuel cell (see clean coal, below). This may be a jab at Apple's removal of the headphone port from their previous phones.

; Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older
:Usually an item is deemed safe for a particular age or older, or (in the case of toys) is recommended for a particular age range. This is unusual in that it's a hodge-podge of age ranges with no apparent reason why some ages are safe and others are not. It may be a parody of drug commercials that list several age ranges for which the drug had to be separately approved.

; Screen goes past the edge
:A parody of the trend of "edge to edge" displays in recent generations of smartphones, or phones whose screens curve partway around the edge of the phone.

; High thread count CPU
:A {{w|Thread_(computing)|CPU thread}} is a task the CPU performs. Several threads may share memory, making them a process. Threads are meant to run in parallel and the operating system distributes the workload on the available hardware execution units. These execution units are sometimes called hardware threads, especially when there is more than one per processing unit (or core). For example, the Intel Core i7 7700 is considered a 4-core, 8-thread CPU. The vague "high thread count" statement could make sense in this context, however, it is most likely a joke about bedding, where it is an actual selling point; the thread count of a textile signifies the density of fibres in the material, and a high thread count is an indicator of a high quality fabric.

; Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock
:The {{w|Shroud of Turin}} contains an image of the body and face of a man, originally believed to be {{w|Jesus Christ}}, before the Shroud was found to be 1200 years too young. Some theories suggest the image was created by interaction with or transfer from the body that was wrapped in the shroud. Presumably, to unlock this phone, the user would have to physically {{w|facepalm|press their face}} against the phone, the way the Shroud-Man's image was allegedly transferred to the shroud. This is probably a reference to the iPhone X's FaceID unlock, which uses a ''photograph'' of your face, augmented with spatial information, to unlock itself, and which had attracted [https://www.wired.com/story/iphone-x-faceid-security/ significant criticism] immediately before this comic came out.

; Fonts developed by NASA
: This may be a reference to many advertisements that claim that their product uses technology developed by NASA in an attempt to make it seem more impressive. NASA technology does often tend to be quite strong and advanced, as they claim at their [https://spinoff.nasa.gov/ spin off] website. Between 1975 and 1992 NASA used the {{w|NASA insignia|"worm" logotype}} in its insignia; it was a special font that omitted the horizontal bar in the capitalized letter A. However, it would not be particularly impressive to use this, since fonts have very little to do with NASA's core operations{{Citation needed}}, and it potentially implies that it would not support many other common, and perhaps more readable, fonts.

: This may also be riffing on the {{w|Writing_in_space|urban legend}} that NASA invested vast amounts of research in developing a pen that could write in space, rather than just using a pencil.

; Includes applicator
: This is found on the packaging for many products, such as tampons, cosmetics, and paints. An applicator for a phone would be absurd, since the phone cannot be applied, spread, inserted, or attached to something else. However, this may be referring back to the aforementioned yearly vaccine.

; Burns clean coal
: Clean coal is coal that is burned so that it does not give off as much soot, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, or other pollutants as "normal" coal, or methods of burning coal that give off relatively less pollutants. This may be advertised by energy companies trying to appear to be using clean energy, due to pollution concerns. Coal burning power plants are usually quite large, so a traditional coal fired thermal-electric plant in a cell phone would be absurd. {{w|Fuel cell|fuel cells}}, which produce electricity by oxidizing some fuel, can be small enough to fit in a cell phone, but they do not typically burn coal. The cordless charging port might be a receptacle for refueling the phone, using liquid or a fuel cartridge.

; Pre-seasoned
:Pre-seasoned typically refers to cast iron cookware which is ready to use out of the box, as opposed to needing to season it with oil and heat. It can also refer to packaged meats which are ready to cook without needing to be seasoned with herbs and spices, or timber that has been dried and is ready for use. A more technical definition of 'seasoning' means operating devices, usually calibrated standards or battery cells, for a while in the factory, to make sure the device meets constant performance requirements without deviating or diminshing too much. In this sense it could apply to the battery of the phone.

; Broad-spectrum SPF 30
:The xkcd phone somehow gives a {{w|sunscreen|sun protection factor}} (SPF) 30 level of protection from sunlight, meaning that it blocks all but 1/30 of skin-burning UVB radiation from sunlight, though it is not clear whether it is the user or the phone itself which is protected. Phones do not typically require protection from sunlight{{Citation needed}}. On the other hand, if, when placed between the user and the sun, the phone allows >3% of the radiation through, this would be remarkably more translucent, and therefore less effective, than most phones (which allow much less than 1% of UVB, or any other visible or near-visible wavelength, through). It would also be an inefficient method of protection, since it would only be able to protect a relatively small patch of skin.

; College-ruled
:College-ruled is a style of notebook paper having narrower than normal lines, in order to fit more text per page. That the phone is college-ruled suggests that there are lines permanently displayed on the screen, which could obscure any images on the screen, and make any text that doesn't line up with the lines hard to read. Defective screens can show similar patterns; for example, the iPhone 6 "touch disease" causes regularly spaced vertical lines to appear on top of the screen. Here, it is possible that the manufacturer is trying to pass off screen defects as features.

; Sterile packaging
:Useful for medical supplies, less so in a phone. There are numerous studies and resulting 'news' articles looking at the number of bacteria, fecal samples, and so forth, that can be found on the typical phone, typically with a sensationalist take on how you will be 'shocked' to discover this. However, sterile packaging would do little to counter this, since most of this contamination is accumulated after the user removes the phone from the packaging and begins using it.

; Radium backlight
:The discovery of the radioactive element radium sparked a brief fad in which manufacturers of consumer products began coating them with a paint containing radium and a radioluminescent substance, such as zinc sulfide, which converted the radiation from the radium into visible light. In particular, some clock and watch makers painted the faces or hands of their timepieces, allowing the time to be read at night without an external power source for the light. However, it was eventually realized that regular exposure to radium could result in radiation poisoning, particularly for the workers assembling and painting the products. A radium-based backlight would therefore be both potentially dangerous (especially for an object carried on one's person much of the time) but also largely useless, as the radioluminescent light is rather dim compared to conventional phone back lights.

; 4K pixels (50×80)
:"4K" typically denotes a screen with a width of ~4000 pixels, such as 4K TVs, which have 3840×2160 pixels, or about 6.1 million pixels total. That would be an outstanding resolution for a cell phone. Here, however, the "fine print" in parentheses clarifies that 4000 is actually the total number of pixels, not the width, which would be remarkably low resolution for a smart phone. As a comparison, the old Commodore VIC-20, with a resolution of 176 × 184, would have over 8 times the pixels of this phone. It is more comparable to the screen resolution of the sturdy Nokia 3310, which boasted a total of 4032 pixels, positioned 84 × 48.

===Version===
In the caption below the phone [[Randall]] presents many different version numbers:
*The number 6 is in correct order of all the xkcd phones
*The {{w|Roman numerals|Roman numeral}} VIII refers to the newly announced {{w|iPhone 8}} and jokes about the Roman numeral X below
*Version number 10 is the current version of Microsoft Windows
*The {{w|iPhone X}} was announced together with the iPhone 8 by Apple on September 12, 2017, a day before this comic was released. Apple clarified that X is meant to be read as the Roman numeral for 10, so for additional absurdity two xkcd phones share the same number, using different numerals
*The number 26 refers to the number of letters in the English alphabet
*In the year 1876 {{w|Alexander Graham Bell}} received the U.S. Patent No. 174465 for the {{w|invention of the telephone}}, but there is still a {{w|Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy|controversy}} whether {{w|Elisha Gray}} was the first to present a working telephone.

The "nonconsecutive version number war" referenced below the version names refers to several recent phones, and possibly operating systems, released consecutively with nonconsecutive version numbers, including:
*The iPhone X (or Ten) which will be released shortly after the iPhone 8
*The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was released after the Note 5
*The Oneplus 5 was released after the OnePlus 3T
*The ZTE Axon 7 was released after the original Axon, skipping numbers 2-6.
*Microsoft Windows 10 was released after Microsoft Windows 8, officially skipping Microsoft Windows 9
Randall's ludicrous naming scheme aims to 'defeat' all of these by eclipsing them. By counting parallel version numbers xkcd defeated Apple 6:2.

The symbols at the end are ™ for trademark, ® for registered trademark, and © for a copyright protection. The degree symbol ° after the letter C could be a play with degree Celsius. The use of all four symbols after the phrase is ridiculous, as ™ and ® indicate trademarks with opposite registration statuses, slogans can't be copyrighted, and the degree symbol usually has no meaning when applied to text.

In the title text Randall recognises privacy concerns about the facial recognition feature. A picture of a face will only be used for facial recognition, but never stored on the device nor transmitted to the internet. A ''small'' side effect may be that the famous selfie pictures aren't possible anymore, as well as video calls.

==Transcript==
:[A smartphone is shown, the screen is slightly wider than the case, in the middle is a photo lens, and at the right bottom a small extra part is added to the screen.]
:[On top a bracket ranges nearly over the entire width of the case. The text reads:]
:Full-width rear camera
:[The label at the photo lens is:]
:Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
:[The label on the extra part says:]
:Extra screen
:[At the bottom below the case a label reads:]
:Wireless charging port

:[The labels left to the phone are:]
:4k pixels (50x80)
:Radium backlight
:Sterile packaging
:College-ruled
:Broad spectrum SPF 30
:Pre-seasoned
:Burns clean coal
:Includes applicator
:Fonts developed by NASA
:Shroud of turn-style facial transfer unlock
:High thread count CPU
:Screen goes past the edge
:Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older

:[The labels right to the phone are:]
:CDC partnership: Phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year
:12-function
:Dishwasher safe
:GPS transmitter
:3-G acceleration
:Portable, solar-heated
:Pore-cleaning strip
:Maximum strength
:Never needs sharpening
:Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
:Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight

:[Text below the phone:]
:Introducing
:'''The xkcd Phone 6, VIII, 10, X, 26, and 1876'''
:''We didn't start this nonconsecutive version number war, but we will not lose it.''™®©°

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:xkcd Phones]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|xkcd Phones]]

2225: Voting Referendum

2019-11-06T20:39:25Z

172.68.34.82: if -> in

{{comic
| number = 2225
| date = November 6, 2019
| title = Voting Referendum
| image = voting_referendum.png
| titletext = The weirdest quirk of the Borda count is that Jean-Charles de Borda automatically gets one point; luckily this has no consequences except in cases of extremely low turnout.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VOTING SYSTEM. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The main part of this comic is a ballot on the subject of voting methods—that is, of ways to choose one or more winning options from a set of options at an election.

The first three options are shown with radio buttons, a standard ccomputer convention for a choice where the user may make only one selection, and they are indeed methods where a voter selects one and only one option.

The first listed, '''first-past-the-post''', is a common method used in the USA, UK, and Canada where an election will select only one winner. Each voter selects one preferred candidate, and the one with the most votes wins, even if that is a small fraction of the total (the winner of the UK Parliamentary seat for Belfast South in 2015 did not even receive a quarter of the vote).

The second listed, the '''top-two primary,''' is the system used in California for USA House of Representatives elections. Candidates from all parties and from no party all appear on one ballot at the primary (unlike most states, where each party’s primary is a separate race, winners then proceeding to the first-past-the-post general election). The two highest finishers then contest the general election, even if both are from the same party, and even if one had an absolute majority in the primary. (This is because the Constitution requires that representatives be elected on the same day, and having a seat decided in advance via the primary would violate this.)

The third, the '''Louisiana primary''', is more like the traditional runoff system, in that the second part of the election is not held if one candidate has a clear majority (one vote more than the combined total of all other candidates). In this case, though, the primary is held on the national Election Day, and any needed runoffs are held on a later date. This also resembles the system used in France, where the runoff is known as the "deuxième tour" (the "premier tour" being the main election).

The next option is '''cumulative voting''', in which each voter gets as many votes as there are seats to be filled, and may distribute them as he chooses among one or more candidates. This system was long used to select the Illinois House of Representatives; its most common use today is in choosing corporate boards of directors. A computer would typically represent this kind of choice with multiple columns of radio buttons (one per vote), each candidate represented by one row (as we see here).

The next two methods involve voting yes or no on each option presented, which the comic represents with the traditional metaphor of a checkbox.

'''Approval voting''' is the single-winner version of this system, in which the most-approved-of candidate is the winner. This system is not in widespread use, but was adopted in 2018 in Fargo, ND, USA.

Under '''multiple non-transferable vote,''' a voter may vote for up to ''k'' candidates (in a ''k''-winner election), and the ''k'' highest vote-getters win. This system resembles cumulative voting, but without the ability to concentrate votes on candidates. Its use in the USA has been largely outlawed because it allows a cohesive majority of voters to claim all of the seats and thus to deny the minority any representation whatsoever.

The next three methods involve allowing voters to rank their preferred alternatives from best to worst, represented by numeric entry fields.

The simplest of these, '''instant runoff''' voting, is increasingly popular for single-winner elections. The conventional runoff (in which the top candidates run again if there is no clear majority), as described above, requires holding a second election, printing new ballots, renting the voting spaces, and otherwise incurring additional cost. Under the instant-runoff system, voters indicate their lower preferences on the same ballot as their main vote, and the runoff election is "held" by using this data.

The '''single transferable vote''' system extends this concept to multiple-winner elections. A candidate wins by reaching a vote total of (''v''/(''k''+1))+1, or just enough to prevent there from being too many winners. Excess votes for a winner are then distributed to those voters’ next choices, as are those cast for the bottom candidates eliminated when no additional winners can otherwise be determined. The Republic of Ireland elects its lower house, the Dáil, by this system.

Under the '''Borda count''' system, each ballot is counted as 1 points for the last choice, 2 for next-to-last, and so on up to ''n'' for the first choice among ''n'' candidates. The highest point-earner(s) win)s(. This system may also be calculated as 1 point for first choice, 2 for second, etc., with the lowest total winning; this variant, called the "cross-country vote" (due to its resemblance to the scoring system of the sport of cross-country running), is used by the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s various selection committee as one step in choosing championship tournament fields.

Finally, '''range voting''' allows a voter to give any value in a range (say 0 to 10) to each candidate, with the highest total winning. (If the range contains only two values, this reduces to the approval system.) Our imaginary voter is asked to choose the point on the range by way of a slider, the classic computer metaphor for it.

The punchline is that the whole referendum is a chicken-and-egg problem: in order to accomplish the purpose of a referendum, one needs to know how the votes will be translated into a result, but in this case, determining that rule is the purpose of the referendum....

The alt text refers to the inventor of the Borda count (for whom it is named), implying that the use of the system includes a ballot in which he gets one vote. This vote would be quickly drowned out by any sensible quantity of actual votes.

The day before this comic's publication was an election day throughout the USA, primarily for local and state issues (normal elections for federal offices of the President, Senate, and House of Representatives are always in even years), so the topic of today's comic highlights many different methods for conducting elections and counting votes. While elections are primarily used to allow voters to select from candidates for public offices, election ballots also frequently present questions for voters to directly voice their support or opposition to some change in a process or law - commonly called a {{w|Referendum|referendum}}. The comic depicts an election ballot referendum for voters to select the method to be used in future elections.

* '''First past the post'''
The aim of political elections is to determine which of the candidates standing for election is favoured by the majority of voters. In a simple two person contest, this process is trivial, since whichever candidate receives the most votes will be the one that the majority of voters prefer. This {{w|First-past-the-post_voting}} system works well for simple cases, but for elections with more than two candidates this system may result in a candidate being elected who less than 50% of the voters would prefer.

For example, in a contest with three candidates; A, B and C, where candidate A received 41% of the vote, candidate B 40% and candidate C 19%, then candidate A will be elected, even though some of the voters who chose candidate C might have preferred candidate B as their second choice instead of candidate A, leading to a result which pleases fewer than half of the population.

Despite this drawback, First Past the Post voting continues to be used for political elections in many countries including the US and UK, which historically have both had two main parties receiving the majority of votes. The First Past the Post system has received much criticism, particularly from smaller parties who may loose out, however supporters promote the simplicity of the system compared to other methods.

* '''Top-two primary'''

* '''Louisiana primary'''

* '''Cumulative voting'''

* '''Approval voting'''
In this system, each candidate is listed as a yes/no choice, where the voters can choose which candidate they approve of winning the election, and which ones they do not approve of. The winner of the election is the candidate with the highest approval rate.

In the XKCD ballot, the approval option is presented as a checkbox, where a check in the box is "approve" or an empty box is "disapprove".

* '''Multiple non-transferable vote'''

* '''Instant runoff voting'''
In this system, people vote for all the candidates, or perhaps their favorite three, but assign different preferences to each candidate they vote for, as in 1 for their first choice, 2 for the second, 3 for their third, etc. If enough people vote for a candidate as their first choice to clear 50%, that person wins. If not, the person with the least votes gets eliminated, and anyone who voted for that person has their next (slightly less favorable) choice automatically move up a rung. The 50% mark is again checked, and if no winner another lowest-voted candidate is eliminated. Eventually one candidate will emerge victorious, and overall that person will have been liked by the voters more than anyone else. The advantages of this system are there is rarely a need to have another election if things are close (the information is already there to "instantly" recalculate the vote based on additional voter preferences), and there is no concept of a "spoiler" candidate taking votes away from your favorite. If people are truly voting their favorite, second favorite, etc., no vote need be seen as being thrown away. For example, a voter really likes the Hippo candidate even though few others do. They can still vote that candidate #1 and the apparently-popular Giraffe candidate 2nd, knowing that if Hippo is eliminated, they have still voted for Giraffe and that vote counts. If it turns out people secretly really like Hippo, however, that candidate actually has a real chance because people are not trying to guess what candidate everyone else will vote for in order to ensure Vulture doesn't get in.

On this weird XKCD ballot, we see this type of ranking between this type of voting (''Instant runoff voting'') and the two that follow (''Single transferable vote'' and ''Borda count'').

* '''Single transferable vote'''
In the

* '''Borda count'''

==Transcript==
Voting Referendum

Which voting system should we use?

* (empty radio button) First past the post
* (empty radio button) Top-two primary
* (filled radio button) Louisiana primary
* (two filled, one empty radio button) Cumulative voting
* (checked box) Approval voting
* (checked box) Multiple non-transferrable vote
* (box marked "3") Instant runoff voting
* (box marked "1") Single transferrable vote
* (box marked "2") Borda count
* (slider with value slightly below half) Range voting

The referendum went well, but we can't figure out how to count the ballots.

{{comic discussion}}

2032: Word Puzzles

2018-08-14T16:31:50Z

172.68.34.82: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2032
| date = August 13, 2018
| title = Word Puzzles
| image = word_puzzles.png
| titletext = Eno's storied aria was once soloed by Judge Lance Ito on the alto oboe at Ohio's AirAsia Arena.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a word game enthusiast - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is another comic where [[Randall]] presents his [[:Category:My Hobby|hobby]] to fool on other people. [[Cueball]] knows that [[Megan]] is a word game enthusiast and - while both are probably at a party - he presents a complex sentence rather than just doing small talk. And he is successful as we can see that she is just thinking about the proper solution to that puzzle.

The dialog, caption, and title text contain many words that appear frequently in crossword puzzle answers because they fit well with intersecting words, in part because they have a high density of vowels. Some of the terms (parts of, start of) are also commonly used in cryptic crossword clues to indicate that nearby words should be combined or split to create an answer.

{{w|Brian Eno}} is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, writer, and visual artist. He is best known for his pioneering work in ambient music and contributions to rock, pop, electronic, and generative music. He was born on 15 May 1948, and is still an active artist. But live concerts by him were rare and may not happen ever again. However, the aria was not written by himself but by an au pair to an opera star which belonged to Eno. And this happened after Eno ended his live career.

The title text goes further on this puzzle and asserts that {{w|Lance Ito}} was playing the aria solo on an {{w|Oboe|oboe}} at the fictive ''Ohio's AirAsia Arena''. Ito is well known as the judge in the {{w|O. J. Simpson}} murder case.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan standing together. He makes some gestures with his hand and some musical notes are above him while Megan holds her fist before her mouth.]
:Cueball: Parts of this aria were composed by Brian Eno's Opera Star au pair at the start of his post-live era.
:Megan (thinking): ...parts...start...eno...aria...

:[Caption below the frame:]
:My hobby: Messing with word game enthusiasts by using words that make them '''''sure''''' there's a puzzle to solve

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Music]]

1834: Lunch Order

2017-06-01T23:51:15Z

172.68.34.82: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1834
| date = May 8, 2017
| title = Lunch Order
| image = lunch order.png
| titletext = GO FOR LUNCH, REPEAT, GO FOR LUNCH.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic plays on the similarity of the words "launch" and "lunch," and the fact that both "Lunch order" and "Launch order" are common phrases in their respective environments. A "lunch order" is common in many work places, where a person may be asked to go pick up lunches for multiple coworkers so they don't all need to leave to get their lunches -- they would typically give their lunch order to the person making the run so he or she would know what to order. A "launch order" would only apply to a place capable of launching missiles, such as military installation housing launch-able missiles. So while a "lunch order" is pretty benign and could certainly apply to such a place, a "launch order" of a nuclear warhead is a much more drastic command, meaning that the principle of deterrence has failed and {{w|mutually assured destruction}} is imminent. By receiving an order for "Lunch" instead of to "Launch," nuclear conflict was avoided.

Autocorrect is a feature in many software text-entry applications (such as smartphone "keyboards") that will make changes to entered text that it identifies as misspelled in order to quickly increase legibility of the final text. While this process typically makes text entry quicker and easier for users, sometimes the automatically corrected text will not match what the user intended to send, which can lead to miscommunication.

In most circumstances, military units charged with the maintenance of active nuclear weapons will receive their orders to employ those weapons based on direct communication from a commanding authority, these forces in the United States are commanded by the United States Strategic Command. The majority of modern nuclear weapons are prepared to be deployed by rocket launch.

The joke does not depict an actual historic event. To our knowledge, the last time the United States almost launched nuclear missiles at a hostile power was [http://www.rawstory.com/2014/04/nukes-were-almost-used-13-times-since-1962-and-the-risk-of-nuclear-accidents-is-rising-report/ June 1980], while the function we know today as Autocorrect would not enter development until [https://www.wired.com/2014/07/history-of-autocorrect/ the 1990's]. That said, the country still maintains a large nuclear arsenal ready to launch on short notice. The comic might be playing off recent fears involving [http://www.complex.com/life/2017/04/china-warns-united-states-north-korea-war-possible hostilities between the United States and North Korea]; if any l(a)unch preparations have been taken in 2017, they were not declassified by the time this comic was published.

There are jokes that the current leader of North Korea often confuses "launch" and "lunch." This has to do with his being the rotund head of a military dictatorship.

The title text plays on the similarity between two phrases: "GO FOR LAUNCH" is the standard way to express the {{w|Launch status check}} for a rocket (and means that all checks have passed and launch can proceed), whereas "GO FOR LUNCH" expresses the more mundane act of simply beginning one's lunch break. Despite the repetition (which is intended to reduce the chance of a miscommunication), the autocorrect still managed to distort the message a further two times.

A previous comic also explain the [[898: Chain of Command]] and who's responsible of the red button.

==Transcript==
[A control panel is showed, three Hairy's are in there, the rightmost one is controlling the panel, the two others are talking.]

Hairy 1: Sir-Strategic command has sent us a lunch order.

Hairy 2: Don't they have anything better to do?

[Below the panel is a caption.]

Caption: Everyone complains about autocorrect, but we forget about the time it prevented a nuclear war.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

1839: Doctor Visit

2017-06-01T23:29:47Z

172.68.34.82: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1839
| date = May 19, 2017
| title = Doctor Visit
| image = doctor_visit.png
| titletext = According to these blood tests, you're like 30% cereal.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is visiting his doctor [[Ponytail]], apparently for a general medical checkup.

While there is nothing wrong with him medically, the doctor wonders why he has continued to work for many years despite his body parts' individual fragility. Compared to man-made structures - like the USB cables mentioned by Ponytail, which quickly begin to fray - it's surprising that the body can survive for so long while sustaining so much wear and tear. Actually the body gets stronger and more fit the more it is used (an example of antifragility[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragility]), in contrast to USB cables, which tend to wear out with use.

Ponytail specifically mentions his eyes which are so fragile and exposed. Yet most people go through a whole life with both eyes intact, although the vision itself may be impaired. The human reflexes and the shape of the skull around the eyes has a lot to do with the fact that it is possible to protect such fragile structures for a lifetime.

Ponytail also remarks that the body is composed of high pressure fluids (particularly blood, intracellular and extracellular fluids) and intricate parts (like the nervous system and the heart). If the fluids stopped flowing or the intricate parts stopped working, the entire body would fail, killing Cueball.

It should be noted that the human body is constantly replacing dead/injured cells and proteins. In a young human body, everything in the body is continually refurbished, and nothing is able to become old enough to deteriorate unintentionally; this requires a constant supply of energy and nutrients to keep this process going. As the body ages, these self-repair mechanisms eventually slow and can no longer keep up with the required repairs; this manifests as the various symptoms of old age (wrinkled skin, graying and balding hair, worsening eyesight and hearing, etc.) and eventual death.

USB cables are built to withstand far more wear and tear than the human body. But while this makes them tougher than blood vessels on the outset, they inevitably fray and fail faster than blood vessels because they lack the self-repair mechanisms of organic material.

The doctor's final remark is that Cueball is mainly made from dissolved bread, which is true from the perspective that the food (bread) he eats is digested in his alimentary system, absorbed into his bloodstream and used as nutrients for growth and repair. Paleontologists use a method called isotopic analysis to determine the diets of ancient people from elements preserved in teeth and bones. Ponytail could have ordered a similar test on Cueball.

This is taken further in the title text, where she states that the blood tests reveal he is 30% {{w|breakfast cereal}}. This likely comes from the widely-cited but not entirely accurate factoid that the human body is 70% water. The other 30% would then be flesh and other organic matter, or the dissolved bread the doctor described. Breakfast cereal and bread are both products of {{w|cereal}}, the edible part of a grain, making the comparison apt.

All things taken into consideration, we don't actually have any confirmation that Ponytail is a real doctor. As Randall has stated before, [[699: Trimester|anybody can just buy a lab coat]]. Although Ponytail's answer in the final panel lacks [[1644: Stargazing|the usual "I have no idea" or equivalent non-answer]], so it's still somewhat possible she's a real doctor having an existential episode.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her right hand.]
:Cueball: Everything look good?
:Ponytail: I don't get how your body has been moving around for years and still works at all. My USB cables fray after like a month.

:Ponytail: Your heart has been pumping for decades without pausing for even a few minutes.
:Ponytail: And your ''eyes!'' They're so fragile and exposed!

:[Zoom in on Cueball gazing at his palms.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): You're full of all these high-pressure fluids and intricate parts that could kill you in seconds if they stopped working!

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Cueball: ...can you just tell me whether I'm healthy?
:Ponytail: Yeah, you're fine.
:Ponytail: Which is weird, given that your body is basically made from dissolved bread.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1840: Genetic Testing Results

2017-06-01T23:12:57Z

172.68.34.82: /* Explanation */ Ponytail's genetic test's results are in no way human-specific.

{{comic
| number = 1840
| date = May 22, 2017
| title = Genetic Testing Results
| image = genetic_testing_results.png
| titletext = That's very exciting! The bad news is that it's a risk factor for a lot of things.
}}

==Explanation==

Ponytail [[1839|continues Cueball's medical checkup]] with a genetic test.

{{w|Genetic test}}s show people genetic diseases that they might be at risk for and give them insight into their ancestry. In this case, the genetic results are extremely obvious: His genes are part of a long line of genes stretching back to some of the earliest life forms to have genes. This information is, on top of being obvious, so vague as to be useless for medical purposes.

Randall has previously joked about the, what should be obvious, results of genetic testing in [[830|#830: Genetic Analysis]].

Randall makes a similar joke in the title text to [[674: Natural Parenting]]: "On one hand, every single one of my ancestors going back billions of years has managed to figure [having kids] out. On the other hand, that's the mother of all sampling biases."

In epidemiology, a risk factor is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. The title text says that this is a risk factor because being a living organism is, trivially, associated with every disease that exists.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her right hand.]
:Ponytail: Your genetic test results are back. Apparently you're part of an unbroken lineage stretching back billions of years to the early Earth!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1844: Voting Systems

2017-06-01T22:57:15Z

172.68.34.82: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1844
| date = May 31, 2017
| title = Voting Systems
| image = voting_systems.png
| titletext = Kenneth Arrow hated me because the ordering of my preferences changes based on which voting systems have what level of support. But it tells me a lot about the people I'm going to be voting with!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Here we have basically two explanations which have to be merged.}}

This comic references three types of voting systems:

1) '''{{w|Approval voting}}''': Approval voting is a single-winner electoral system. Each voter may "approve" of (i.e., select) any number of candidates. The winner is the most-approved candidate.

2) '''{{w|Instant-runoff voting}}''': In Instant-Runoff Voting (also known as Ranked Choice or Preferential Voting) voters in elections can rank the candidates in order of preference. Ballots are initially counted for each elector's top choice. If a candidate secures more than half of these votes, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate in last place is eliminated and removed from consideration. The top remaining choices on all the ballots are then counted again. This process repeats until one candidate is the top remaining choice of a majority of the voters or all but one candidate have been eliminated.

3) '''{{w|Condorcet method}}''': A '''Condorcet method''' is any single-winner electoral system that elects the candidate that would win a majority of the vote in all of the head-to-head elections against each of the other candidates, whenever there is such a candidate. A candidate with this property is called the Condorcet winner. Due to the {{w|Condorcet paradox}}, there may not be a Condorcet winner in an election with 3 or more candidates.

'''{{w|Arrow's impossibility theorem}}''' gives a list of criteria for ranked voting electoral systems and states that no system can satisfy all of them at once, despite that for each of them it may seem "obvious" that an electoral system ought to satisfy it.

The primary joke in the comic is the premise that people who are pedantic or knowledgeable enough to find Arrow's theorem to be relevant will self-fulfill the theorem by being inclined to disagree on any effort to change the voting system. They agree that the currently-used method of first past the post (FPTP, aka plurality voting) is clearly the wrong way to implement democracy, but they strongly disagree on what should replace it. This is illustrated by Cueball's voting system preference that is contingent on essentially disagreeing with the preferences of other people, which defeats any effort to produce a community-wide ranking.

A secondary joke in the comic is that often voters don't pick their favorite choice in a vote, because voting strategically for a less favorable choice may prevent their least favorite choice from being selected. This is the kind of situation these voting systems are designed to eliminate, as a traditional FPTP voting system creates situations where people do not vote for their first-choice candidate.

A third joke is the idea of having to vote for a voting system creates its own paradox, particularly given that one of the candidates (Condorcet method) would itself stipulate that it may not (logically consistently) win in the situation that it is being proposed in (3 or more candidates).

The title text stipulates that Cueball has no fixed ranking of preference for human candidates, but makes this choice dependent on which voting system is favoured by the group. This exceeds strategic voting considerations as the ranking should have full information, whom Cueball prefers in each situation. Therefore Arrow's impossibility theorem and the analysis behind it assume the ranked preferences of an individual voter as a fixed given. To make them dependent on the voting system makes assessing the efficacy of the voting systems absurd or at least much more complicated to do as a general assessment. That is given as the reason, why Arrow would wholeheartedly hate him.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Ponytail are standing on either side of Cueball who is talking while lifting one hand.]
:Cueball: I prefer approval voting, but if we're seriously considering instant runoff, then I'll argue for a Condorcet method instead.

:[Caption beneath the panel:]
:Strong Arrow's theorem: The people who find Arrow's theorem significant will never agree on anything anyway.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Politics]]

Talk:1836: Okeanos

2017-05-12T18:24:31Z

172.68.34.82:

Take it from here guys. Also, glad the website is back online! [[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]] ([[User talk:Nialpxe|talk]]) 06:58, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

"Who else is watching..." is used as some form of community bonding on Youtube to connect with other people re-watching (or watching for the first time) (much) older videos at a later date. COmpare with "Who else got here from XKCD [or similar]" if the video was linked from a particular site and it's users are trying to recognize each other. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.76|162.158.222.76]] 07:03, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Yay! The website's finally back online! --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 11:35, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Isn't often Randall does color. Hmmm, must be Fake. :) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.11|108.162.238.11]] 11:37, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

"When I went on a boat I dropped my phone can you look for it" I wonder if this is supposed to mean that the phone [insert name here] dropped is the one live-streaming or if [insert name here] is asking the people on the live-stream to look for his phone. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 11:49, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Crafting might not be a Minecraft reference, as lots of games have crafting. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.52|172.68.206.52]] 12:54, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:Fixed it. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 13:30, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

"[T]he ocean... is not a small place[citation needed]" is flat out hilarious. I just want to show my appreciation for whoever put 'citation needed' in there. I'm going to spend the next several days just thinking about how funny that is. [[User:IonFreeman|IonFreeman]] ([[User talk:IonFreeman|talk]]) 13:38, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:Honestly, I feel that joke is ''way'' too overused on this wiki [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.197|172.68.142.197]] 16:19, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
::I only can remember it being used twice, and this was one of those two. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 16:33, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Did anyone notice the subtle style changes to xkcd? The buttons at the top have their glow going beyond the black line now, and (less noticable) your mouse needs to be one pixel farther into the comic to see the mouseover text. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.82|172.68.34.82]] 18:24, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

1790: Sad

2017-04-29T22:49:58Z

172.68.34.82: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1790
| date = January 25, 2017
| title = Sad
| image = sad.png
| titletext = With the right 90-degree rotation, any effect is a side effect.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is about [[Cueball]] confronting [[Ponytail]] about her recent behavior and emotional state, which has lasted a few months. It's implied that she (and thus also [[Randall]]) is sad following last year's {{w|United States presidential election, 2016|election}}, though the actual reasons for Ponytail's frustrations and depression aren't dwelt on and the focus is on her retreat into video games and the damage it's doing to her work projects.

Sadness could come from many causes (breaking up, family member dying etc). However, the notion that this comic is political is supported by the fact check in the second panel, and also that this was only the second comic released after {{w|Donald Trump}}'s {{w|Inauguration of Donald Trump|inauguration}}. See more about these issues and other recently released [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|sad comics here]].

Ponytail has retreated to video games for solace and to the point that her real life projects are suffering.
''{{w|Stardew Valley}}'' is a video game in which a player creates and manages a virtual farm. And when Cueball mentions that her projects have stagnated, she retorts that her farm in the game does great. A comic with the name of that game was releases only two weeks later, [[1797: Stardew Valley]], indicating that it is in deed Randall who have played this game excessively (see the title text), and thus again confirming the above that the comic is about Randall (or his surroundings) sad state of mind.

Cueball's statement about not being able to hide from everything is a common one to give to insecure people or to those trying to run away from their problems. Ponytail's reply is in the form of a {{w|PolitiFact.com|PolitiFact}} reply, claiming (possibly quite truly) that such assertions are ''mostly false'', one of the six options, but it is far from being the worst, thus acknowledging that you can't hide from everything, just mostly. See more about Politifact.com in the comic [[1712: Politifact]]. This is the only political answer she gives in this comic, but it is another clear indication (by Randall and Ponytail) that her trouble is with Trumps leniency with the truth in both election campaign and since, to the point where lies are now on a daily basis just called {{w|alternative facts}} or {{w|post-truth_politics#United_States|post-truth}}.

In computer programming ''{{w|Comment (computer programming)|comments}}'' are something a programmer adds to their code such to make a note for themselves or others, typically to explain a complicated piece of logic or explaining external dependencies of a piece of code. Instead, Ponytail has been writing unrelated notes filled with obscenities. Ponytail's reply is one of typical advice given to amateur fiction and non-fiction writers, that to "write what you know.", implying that all Ponytail knows right now is obscenities.

Also in programming ''{{w|Subroutine|functions}}'' are pieces of code which developers create to avoid repetition and make the code clearer (such as "calculate distance between points" or "process values"). A function which does nothing is almost useless (although sometimes programmers leave functions empty, when they create the skeleton of a program, but then they usually intend to fill them out later). It is expected that a function ''does'' something with a given parameter, but Ponytail’s function does nothing with the parameters except returning the parameter but with the comment ''No, '''you''' deal with this''. Thus she wishes that somebody/something else ''deals'' with any problem, probably what she would also wish for right now, where she is so sad that she even neglects her projects.

Ponytail replies that she writes them like this in order to try to avoid {{w|Side effect (computer science)|side effects}} (i.e. changes to global state), in line with a {{w|functional programming}} paradigm. When Cueball points out that she avoids all effects, Ponytail [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/quotes?item=qt2959706 quotes] part of a famous quote from {{w|Ellen Ripley|Ripley}} in {{w|Aliens (film)|Aliens}}: ''I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the '''only way to be sure'''.'' By replying that it's the "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbfMkh940Q only way to be sure]" she is thus indirectly saying better safe than sorry, but in reality she just doesn't care about her programming anymore because of her sad state of mind.

The title text is a pun, interpreting the phrase "side effect" literally. If you turn an object 90 degrees along the right axis you will place it on its side, so thus making it a effect of putting something on its side, or a "side effect." You can also turn 90 degrees (along another axis), facing what was previously your side.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking up to Ponytail who sits at her desk in an office chair typing on her computer.]
:Cueball: How are you doing?
:Ponytail: Hah.
:Cueball: You seem distant lately. For the past few months.
:Ponytail: Can't '''''imagine''''' why.

:[Cueball talks to Ponytail at her desk from off-panel.]
:Cueball (off-panel): Your projects have stagnated.
:Ponytail: But my Stardew Valley farm is doing '''''great'''''.
:Cueball (off-panel): You can't just hide from everything.
:Ponytail: '''''Fact check''''': Mostly false.

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball is seen standing behind Ponytail at her desk.]
:Cueball: I'm glad you're including more comments in your code, but it would be nice if they were comments '''''about''''' your code.
:Cueball: Or at least a bit less obscenity-filled.
:Ponytail: Look, they say to write what you know.

:[Cueball leans forward towards Ponytail at her desk (who has looked on the screen in the same position through the entire comic).]
:Cueball: All the functions you've written take everything passed to them and return it unchanged with the comment "No, '''''you''''' deal with this."
:Ponytail: It's a functional programming thing. Avoiding side effects.
:Cueball: You avoid '''''all''''' effects.
:Ponytail: Only way to be sure.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Sarcasm]]

1724: Proofs

2017-03-10T19:53:43Z

172.68.34.82: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1724
| date = August 24, 2016
| title = Proofs
| image = proofs.png
| titletext = Next, let's assume the decision of whether to take the Axiom of Choice is made by a deterministic process ...
}}

==Explanation==
[[Miss Lenhart]] is back teaching a math class. She begins a proof when one of her students ([[Cueball]]) interrupts her asking if this is one of those dark-magic (unclear, incomprehensible) proofs. She claims no, but in a matter of seconds Cueball is calling out that he was right.

The proof she starts setting up resembles a {{w|proof by contradiction}}. However, after Cueball's interruption Ms Lenhart's proof takes a turn for the absurd: rather than assuming there will be a point in the function that correlates to co-ordinates (x, y), Lenhart assumes that the ''act of writing numbers on the board'' will correlate to co-ordinates (x, y).

A ''normal'' proof by contradiction assumes that a particular condition is true, and shows that this assumption leads to a contradiction, which disproves the initial assumption. For example assumption that √2 is a {{w|rational number}} means that, for some natural ''a'' and ''b'', √2=''a/b'', where ''a/b'' is an {{w|irreducible fraction}}. Yet, multiplying this equation by itself, we get 2=''a²/b²'' which in turn rearranges to 2''b²''=''a²''. Therefore ''a²'' is even (as any integer multiplied by 2 is even), which means that ''a'' is an even number, as an even number squared is always even and an odd number squared is always odd. This means, that ''a=2k'' and ''2b²=(2k)²=4k²'', meaning ''b²''=2''k²'', so ''b'' must be even too. But if both ''a'' and ''b'' are even, ''a/b'' cannot be irreducible (2 is a guaranteed common factor). Contradiction means that the initial assumption is false, and √2 cannot be a rational number.

Alternatively, instead of a proof by contradiction the setup could be for a one way function. For example, it is relatively easy to test that a solution to a differential equation is valid but choosing the correct solution to test can seem like black magic to students.

The way that Ms Lenhart's proof refers to the act of doing math itself, is characteristic of metamathematical proofs, for example {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems}}, which, at first sight, may indeed look like black magic, even if in the end they must be a "perfectly sensible chain of reasoning" like the rest of good mathematics. While typical mathematical theorems and their proofs deal with such mathematical objects as numbers, functions, points or lines, the metamathematical theorems treat other theorems as objects of interest. In this way you can propose and prove theorems about possibility of proving other theorems. For example, in 1931 {{w|Kurt Gödel}} was able to prove that any mathematical system based on arithmetics (that is using numbers) has statements that are true, but can be neither proved nor disproved. This kind of metamathematical reasoning is especially useful in {{w|set theory}}, where many statements become impossible to prove and disprove if the {{w|axiom of choice}} is not taken as a part of the axiomatic system.

Using a position on the blackboard as a part of the proof is a joke, but it bears a resemblance to {{w|Cantor's diagonal argument}} where a position in a sequence of digits of a real number was a tool in a proof that not all infinite sets have the same {{w|cardinality}} (rough equivalent of the number of elements). This "diagonal method" is also often used in metamathematical proofs.

The axiom of choice itself states that for every collection of nonempty sets, you can have a function that draws one element from each set of the collection. This axiom, once considered controversial, was added relatively late to the axiomatic set theory, and even contemporary mathematicians still study which theorems really require its inclusion. In the title text the decision of whether to take the axiom of choice is made by a deterministic process, that is a process which future states can be developed with no randomness involved. {{w|Determinacy}} of infinite games is used as a tool in the set theory, however the deterministic process is rather a term of the {{w|stochastic process|stochastic processes theory}}, and the {{w|dynamical systems theory}}, branches of mathematics far from the abstract set theory, which makes the proof even more exotic. The axiom of choice was mentioned earlier in [[804: Pumpkin Carving]] and later in [[982: Set Theory]], another comic about a math class with a similar theme on how teachers teach their student mathematical proofs.

Although Miss Lenhart did retire a year ago after [[1519: Venus]], she seems to have returned here for a math course at university level, but continues the trend she finished with in her prior class.

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is standing facing left in front of a whiteboard writing on it. Eleven left aligned lines of writing is shown as unreadable scribbles. A voice interrupts her from off-panel right.]
:Miss Lenhart: ... Let's assume there exists some function ''F''(''a,b,c''...) which produces the correct answer-
:Cueball (off-panel): Hang on.

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball is sitting on a chair at a desk with a pen in his hand taking notes.]
:Cueball: This is going to be one of those weird, dark magic proofs, isn't it? I can tell.

:[Miss Lenhart has turned right towards Cueball, who is again speaking off-panel. The white board is also off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: What? No, no, it's a perfectly sensible chain of reasoning.
:Cueball (off-panel): All right...

:[Miss Lenhart is facing the whiteboard again writing more scribbles behind some of the lines from before (the first line has disappeared). The lines that have more text added are now number three and five (four and six before). Cueball again speaks off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: Now, let's assume that the correct answer will eventually be written on the board at the coordinates (''x, y''). If we—
:Cueball (off-panel): I ''knew'' it!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]