explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3137: Cursed Number

2025-09-03T21:46:35Z

2600:1700:94A0:6BE0:BDCB:DD46:B650:F8D5: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3137
| date = September 3, 2025
| title = Cursed Number
| image = cursed_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 388x449px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Another group of mathematicians is working to put an upper bound on the number, although everyone keeps begging them to stop.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created in a CURSED YEAR. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In the universe of this comic there exists some number that, through unknown means, is extremely harmful to the human mind to read it. Dangerous pieces of writing like this are a fairly common trope in speculative fiction, such as the Necronomicon in the Cthulhu Mythos or "memetic cognitohazards" in the SCP Foundation.

Naturally, the mathematics of this world are doing their best keeping this number away from as many human eyeballs as possible, in the interest of public safety. Through some process they have figured out the number is at least 22 digits long; because numbers this large (greater that a sextillion) are extremely unlikely to be found in the day to day lives of non-mathematicians, the public officials have deemed it safe for people to go about their daily lives reading numbers again.

In the title text another group of mathematicians are trying to narrow down the number's identity even further. The more attributes of the cursed number the mathematicians identify, the easier it is for anyone with morbid curiosity or researching more attributes of the number to discover the number themselves and get their mind damaged. This includes the researchers themselves, as they are now willingly going above the lower safe limit, greatly increasing their chances of seeing it accidentally.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

3137: Cursed Number

2025-09-03T21:45:59Z

2600:1700:94A0:6BE0:BDCB:DD46:B650:F8D5: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3137
| date = September 3, 2025
| title = Cursed Number
| image = cursed_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 388x449px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Another group of mathematicians is working to put an upper bound on the number, although everyone keeps begging them to stop.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created in a CURSED YEAR. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In the universe fonthis comic there exists some number that, through unknown means, is extremely harmful to the human mind to read it. Dangerous pieces of writing like this are a fairly common trope in speculative fiction, such as the Necronomicon in the Cthulhu Mythos or "memetic cognitohazards" in the SCP Foundation.

Naturally, the mathematics of this world are doing their best keeping this number away from as many human eyeballs as possible, in the interest of public safety. Through some process they have figured out the number is at least 22 digits long; because numbers this large (greater that a sextillion) are extremely unlikely to be found in the day to day lives of non-mathematicians, the public officials have deemed it safe for people to go about their daily lives reading numbers again.

In the title text another group of mathematicians are trying to narrow down the number's identity even further. The more attributes of the cursed number the mathematicians identify, the easier it is for anyone with morbid curiosity or researching more attributes of the number to discover the number themselves and get their mind damaged. This includes the researchers themselves, as they are now willingly going above the lower safe limit, greatly increasing their chances of seeing it accidentally.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3137: Cursed Number

2025-09-03T21:42:56Z

2600:1700:94A0:6BE0:BDCB:DD46:B650:F8D5: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3137
| date = September 3, 2025
| title = Cursed Number
| image = cursed_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 388x449px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Another group of mathematicians is working to put an upper bound on the number, although everyone keeps begging them to stop.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created in a CURSED YEAR. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic posits a universe where there exists some number that, through unknown means, is extremely harmful to the human mind to read it. Dangerous pieces of writing like this are a fairly common trope in speculative fiction, such as the Necronomicon in the Cthulhu Mythos or "memetic cognitohazards" in the SCP Foundation.

Naturally, the mathematics of this world are doing their best keeping this number away from as many human eyeballs as possible, in the interest of public safety. Through some process they have figured out the number is at least 22 digits long; because numbers this large (greater that a sextillion) are extremely unlikely to be found in the day to day lives of non-mathematicians, the public officials have deemed it safe for people to go about their daily lives reading numbers again.

In the title text another group of mathematicians are trying to narrow down the number's identity even further. The more attributes of the cursed number the mathematicians identify, the easier it is for anyone with morbid curiosity or researching more attributes of the number to discover the number themselves and get their mind damaged. This includes the researchers themselves, as they are now willingly going above the lower safe limit, greatly increasing their chances of seeing it accidentally.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>