Editing 1230: Polar/Cartesian
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | This comic plays upon the difference between reading a {{w| | + | {{incomplete}} |
+ | This comic plays upon the difference between reading a {{w|Polar coordinate system|polar coordinate plot}} and the more common {{w|Cartesian coordinate system|cartesian coordinate plot}}, with its x and y axes. On a polar coordinate plot the distance from the zero point (ie the ''radius'') represents the first value (certainty), and the ''angle'' represents the second value (time). | ||
− | + | At time zero when you first see it, the graph reads 50% as a polar or Cartesian graph. If you start to see it as Polar, you see the value of the radius increasing from 50% to 100% as the angle (time) increases. If you start to see it as Cartesian, you see the line drop from 50% to 0% instead. Throughout the graph, the sum of the two probabilities is 100 %, i.e. (polar-observer's certainty that the graph is polar) + (cartesian-observer's certainty that the graph is polar) = 100%. The shape of the graph appears to be (in polar form) r(t)=100/(1+sin(t)). | |
− | + | The two observers become further entrenched in their own ideologies as time goes on, and at equivalent rates of entrenchment. The intended joke seems to be that the whole graph is an exercise in confirmation bias: whichever type you assume is correct, that view will tend to be confirmed by reading it with that in mind. However, there may be some flaws in the logic of this joke; see below. | |
− | + | The title text is a joke that if you have any two-axis (two-dimensional) graph, you can just re-label it and if you really have ants on your screen, they will act as data points. Ants do often follow a path when they've found a target. | |
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If the reader is open-minded, they would never reach certainty (0% / 100% depending on how you read the graph) because there isn't enough information to clearly decide either way. | If the reader is open-minded, they would never reach certainty (0% / 100% depending on how you read the graph) because there isn't enough information to clearly decide either way. | ||
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | + | :Certainty that this is a clockwise polar plot, not a cartesian one, as a function of time: | |
− | :Certainty that this is a clockwise polar plot, not a | + | :[The graph shows a red curve with an endpoint at 50% on the vertical axis and arcing down, ending with an arrow pointing at 0% at the 10th unit of the horizontal axis.] |
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
+ | [[Category:Math]] | ||
+ | [[Category:Charts]] | ||
[[Category:Comics with color]] | [[Category:Comics with color]] | ||
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