Non-mathematicians have a peculiar idea of what constitutes a "valid" mathematical operation. Eg. I've been asked a few times how you turn a definition like:
f(n) = -1 if n is odd
f(n) = 1 if n is even
into a formula, as if somehow (-1)^n is more valid.
Anyway, here's a quine I wrote years ago because of someone objecting that a quine wasn't a "real" quine if it had loops or conditionals in it. Of course I could also eliminate that i++ but honestly, they kept coming up with objections one after another and I eventually got bored.
https://gist.github.com/dpiponi/8e71ed67831f84cdfc37a652a7b1cea6
Dan Piponi /
npub1xs…fgrae
2025-02-11 17:08:30
Author Public Key
npub1xs30e0pj7velktf5sxewnqf93tu2pdt3s6wtl6fug2tzgy8zxthsgfgraeSeen on
wss://relay.mostr.pubPublished at
2025-02-11 17:08:30Event JSON
{
"id": "8fd8b15a7534c43f4ca39dc4cbcbb2f41fe2e4bd18e3fe82559a75700c71836a",
"pubkey": "3422fcbc32f333fb2d3481b2e981258af8a0b571869cbfe93c42962410e232ef",
"created_at": 1739293710,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"proxy",
"https://mathstodon.xyz/users/dpiponi/statuses/113986352583896835",
"activitypub"
]
],
"content": "Non-mathematicians have a peculiar idea of what constitutes a \"valid\" mathematical operation. Eg. I've been asked a few times how you turn a definition like:\n\nf(n) = -1 if n is odd\nf(n) = 1 if n is even\n\ninto a formula, as if somehow (-1)^n is more valid.\n\nAnyway, here's a quine I wrote years ago because of someone objecting that a quine wasn't a \"real\" quine if it had loops or conditionals in it. Of course I could also eliminate that i++ but honestly, they kept coming up with objections one after another and I eventually got bored.\n\nhttps://gist.github.com/dpiponi/8e71ed67831f84cdfc37a652a7b1cea6",
"sig": "b3d2d82634222c447641666749eeae98395e408336a1d1f6ca440a07bba3fb4ecbc2298e9cd5901cc1b25a45b0a65f613c6c7fe57efc3d29f6cd6af36ec5f599"
}