
Animated Factorisation Diagrams - lelf
http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/factorization/animated-diagrams/#
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arethuza
That appears to work like a denial of service attack on my brain - I was
sitting here quite hypnotized until a colleague asked me what on earth I was
doing.

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JonnieCache
I can imagine using it to trap geeks in the same way that the cat gets trapped
by mirrors in red dwarf.

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tribeofone
LOL

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d23
Can we stop the trend of calling everything "porn"?

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jgrahamc
The porn analogy: <http://blog.jgc.org/2009/04/porn-analogy.html>

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schiffern
Wow, what a terrible article. The disingenuity is astounding.

> _Pornography is fake._

True, but that's not why the analogy is used. Pornography is a visual media
that conveys some of the pleasure of an act without the viewer actually going
through the effort of doing it.

> _Pornography's aim is to sexually excite the viewer. Are geeks sexually
> excited by the eBay data?…_

> _pleasure comes from many things that are non-sexual such as eating…_

> _So let's swap 'geek porn' for a 'geek feast'._

But why isn't "feast" defined symmetrically? A feast's aim is to
gastronomically excite the user. Are geeks gastronomically excited by the eBay
data?

The whole rant is semantic nonsense, defining words in a way that begs the
question. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a good rant. I just like my rants to
make sense.

The _real_ reason not to use the Porn Analogy is stuffed in the last
paragraph: "Many people are uncomfortable with pornography and don't want
pornography analogies in professional work."

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JonnieCache
_> Wow, what a terrible article. The disingenuity is astounding._

Be aware that the person youre replying to is the person who wrote the
article.

I do think you're right though, and I'd be interested to hear jgc's response.

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jgrahamc
It wasn't my intention when writing it to be disingenuous, but I do think
there's validity in his/her criticism of the article. Not my finest blog post.

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JonnieCache
I don't mean to accuse you of being disingenuous, rather I agreed with his
general point.

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jgrahamc
See also my 'Make your own prime factorization diagram' blog post:
[http://blog.jgc.org/2012/04/make-your-own-prime-
factorizatio...](http://blog.jgc.org/2012/04/make-your-own-prime-
factorization.html)

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sold
see also [http://mathlesstraveled.com/2012/10/05/factorization-
diagram...](http://mathlesstraveled.com/2012/10/05/factorization-diagrams/)
and [http://mathlesstraveled.com/2012/11/05/more-factorization-
di...](http://mathlesstraveled.com/2012/11/05/more-factorization-diagrams/)

~~~
Avitas
Here is another fascinating visualization that I'm sure will ring a bell for
some of you. For those that haven't seen this type of explanation, it's really
neat. Eduardo's explanation both easy-to-read--hey, he's a writer--and
detailed.

<http://www.sievesofchaos.com/>

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k2xl
How can I make this my screensaver?

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bbotond
Seconded. I would love to have this as a screensaver.

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gheldean
Thirded... this would be an awesome screensaver/desktop.

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jasondavies
See also: <http://www.jasondavies.com/factorisation-diagrams/>

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cgrinds
For those saying it breaks or ends at 10000. It doesn't if you append infinity
like so
[http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/factorization...](http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/factorization/animated-
diagrams/?infinity)

I also like how you can enable turbo by pressing the fast-forward button
several times...

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Aardwolf
Before I click, is this safe for work or not? Thanks.

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sold
Yes, completely safe

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philbarr
Unless you've got some work you need to do instead of staring blankly at your
screen for 10 minutes, of course.

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fglktyu
This should be made into a ballet.

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AmVess
Dalek ballet.

At least, that's how my brain feels now.

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ceautery
That was beautiful. It puts my _prime number elevator thing_ [1] to shame.

[1] [http://cautery.blogspot.com/2012/05/animated-prime-number-
ma...](http://cautery.blogspot.com/2012/05/animated-prime-number-machine.html)

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nagrom
I went up a level to <http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/> and was
thoroughly disappointed to be 403'd. Are there more available?

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binarymax
You gave up much too quickly! Going up another level to
<http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/> offers a variety of creations.

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rpwverheij
I like it a lot. Would be nice if I could fill in my own number...

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malingo
See also _You Can Count on Monsters_ [1] which presents the same kind of
factorization diagrams but with each number accompanied by an illustration of
a 'monster'. The approach, targeting an elementary-school audience, is a
little trippy but it anchors the idea of the number in a unique visual. I've
given the book to a few of my nieces & nephews.

[1] <http://www.richardevanschwartz.com/monsters.html>

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japhyr
I teach math, and I am definitely showing this to my class today! I am pretty
sure this will help some students make sense of prime numbers for the first
time in their lives.

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migfromparis
Really nice. What rendering engine or library do you use?

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ygra
This looks homegrown. The source code [1] is fairly readable.

New dots seem to enter the world in the position of the last dot placed but
below them. Position and size seem to follow a simple linear movement between
frames.

I wonder though, why is this done with canvas instead of SVG. Just to cut down
on the number of DOM elements?

[1] <http://www.datapointed.net/media/2012/10/factor_min.js>

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maqr
I don't know why an experiment like this would be minified. It would be much
more interesting with well-commented source.

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nadam
Incredible compression scheme for a class of drawings :)

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AmVess
Definitely pretty cool, though it's hard to look at for more than 18 minutes
with it on fast forward.

I think it's reprogramming my brain.

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harscoat
Hypnotic. I'll show it to kids, so that they visualize numbers. Edit: Thank
you awesome job! I am not closing that tab.

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jivatmanx
Pardon if I'm missing something obvious, but what is the significance of the
colors?

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ygra
To look pretty.

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dhosek
I really love the n sequences following n! Those are some of the most
beautiful in the lot, I think. Try 121-126 or 421-427 to see what I mean.

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jivatmanx
Have you considered using parenthesis, or showing powers instead of repeating
numbers?

IE 250 = (5 x 5) x (2 x 2 x 2) 250 = 2^3 x 5^2

You could always display both

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jader201
I was disappointed to see it end (at 10000). :(

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svonsvon
I capped it at 10000 to prevent someone from accidentally leaving it on fast-
forward and wedging their browser. Try this if you want to go farther:

[http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/factorization...](http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/factorization/animated-
diagrams/?infinity)

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chimpinee
Brilliant!

Feature request: audio track speaking the numbers as they appear

UPDATE: 'Popcorn', the electronic pop instrumental, might do too, with the
counting synched to the beat

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tripzilch
Not Kraftwerk's _Numbers_? :)

Or perhaps Boards Of Canada's _Aquarius_ , I wonder what the factorization of
sixty-ten looks like :)

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pranavk
breaks at 10000

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thirit
I like how the div that contains the whole thing is called enchilada.

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louischatriot
Wow. Really impressed, I got stuck on it for a good 5 minutes !

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aquarin
I want a digital clock with dots instead of numbers.

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firesofmay
Hypnotic. I kept staring at it for no reason!

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siddboots
3^n generates the Sierpinski gasket.

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d0m
108 is the coolest diagram ever ( <http://zeldawiki.org/Triforce> )

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cientifico
I want a clock with that !!!

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zllak
Totally hypnotic! Perfect :)

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tanepiper
TIL Prime numbers form circles (or maybe I knew that, but it's been 15 years
since high school math)

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sina
A "circle" could be formed with any number of dots.

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warpspeed
Dare you to make a circle with 2 dots.

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jimrhoskins
Draw a circle that intersects both dots. Done.

Before you say that it should be just a line, let me say that it doesn't break
the rules that say you can "draw" a circle with 100 or 12 or 7 dots. The dots
don't form a circle but rather fall on the line of a circle your mind draws.
Since there is nothing truly between the dots, the "true" shape could jut out
and form a corner or any other shape, just like it could be a line between the
two dots. The circle isn't really there in any circle of n points, so n=2 (and
n=1 for that matter) work just fine.

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warpspeed
The original post used the term "formed," and I used "make," both with the
intent of using only dots to create a circle. I would say you have "included"
two dots in your circle, with this new line being the main element. With all
due respect.

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GoldiKam
Super awesome

