Active Users:292 Time:11/05/2024 08:40:53 PM
Thanks, it still leaves the purpose rather uncertain but random number generator seems ruled out Isaac Send a noteboard - 10/03/2013 05:10:05 PM

View original postI clearly see a kappa on the die, and kappa had a numerical value of 20 (iota having a value of 10). It also clearly has the first five letters in the Greek alphabet, which are 1-5.

Yes, from a math standpoint of generating random numbers while I'm sure I could think up a game that might be fun and fair of such a weird distribution, like Big numbers are infantry, medium calvary, small are war elephants, rolls ten times to generate you forces for the board game this would seem like something someone would do as an additional thing to use the dice for besides whatever purpose they were made for. Thanks for weighing in, all the associated articles keep calling them d20's and I'm glad to be able to but a definite no on that in my head.


View original postIf they're not using digamma or qoppa, however, they're generating 1-5, 7-9, 10-80, and 100-400 (likely) if they're numerical. It's more likely meant to represent the letters of the Greek alphabet, but I'm not clear how they decide which ones not to include. They might have just shown the first 20 (leaving out phi, chi, psi and omega), which would make sense if it was being used for instructional purposes - 20 sides, 20 letters in order. They could also have tried to leave out letters that were considered to be compounds, like xi and psi (k+s, p+s), but that still leaves them with 22 so I don't know what other 2 letters they could cut. I would say eta and omega, being longer values of epsilon and omicron, would be cut, but eta is clearly visible in one of the photos. Also, taking away aspirated versions of letters (like theta as a form of tau or phi as a form of pi) would be an option, but again, I see theta on the die in the photo.

There's some other ones with all symbols displayed here, I'm afraid I can't eyeball most of the symbols with certainty since I'm really only used to seeing the versions and types used regularly in modern math and physics. I don't see an Omega or Eta on them but I would only recognize them as the Ohm resistance version of Omega and the long-tailed lowercase n version of eta.


View original postIt's most likely just that they decided to "number" the sides the same way that we sometimes "number" clauses in a contract: a, b, c, d, e, etc. In that case, the likelihood that the die is meant to generate random numbers or letters is very slim.

I could see a game where you pulled a 'subject card' like birds, vegetables, tools, etc rolled the die and had to come up with a word that started with that letter, so you left out the less common first letters until you had 20. There's some others I've seen including the 2D foldout and this Roman d20, I don't know what the hell it means. I gather they found 12-siders with the zodiac on them too.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein

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It's the Zany Popetastic Sede Vacante Supergame! - 07/03/2013 06:00:53 PM 1153 Views
I will try my hand at it. - 07/03/2013 06:04:08 PM 791 Views
Well... I think there is a fair chance that I'll score 0 points. - 07/03/2013 07:39:54 PM 741 Views
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That's gonna an epic fail - 07/03/2013 08:09:16 PM 940 Views
Paul David Hewson, 1 April, Pope Bono I - 07/03/2013 09:54:50 PM 792 Views
Take your fake answer elsewhere if you're not going to play seriously. *NM* - 07/03/2013 11:48:57 PM 496 Views
*is chastened* That was the only remotely possible answer I could come up with w/o research. *MN* - 08/03/2013 04:13:44 AM 837 Views
So go do the research! It can't take as long to perform as one of your standard diatribes... *NM* - 08/03/2013 09:29:57 PM 431 Views
Tomorrow; I am running on fumes and trying to tell Demotic from demotic at the moment. - 08/03/2013 10:03:52 PM 899 Views
Demotic is a Greek term, so capitalizing it or not really doesn't change anything. - 09/03/2013 03:13:17 PM 826 Views
Ah, I did not realize the Greek term was reserved for modern Greek; thanks. - 09/03/2013 07:11:16 PM 915 Views
Greek letters haven't changed in about 2800 years - 09/03/2013 09:05:30 PM 831 Views
So we do not know WTF numbers the die represents, if it does indeed represent numbers? - 09/03/2013 10:15:59 PM 788 Views
There is a simple way to figure out if they represent numbers. - 10/03/2013 03:33:10 AM 828 Views
That probably answers the positional notation aspect we'd been discussing on the other board - 10/03/2013 04:12:32 AM 817 Views
Based on the photo shot, I can't see how the die would be used in a percentile fashion. - 10/03/2013 03:18:43 PM 783 Views
Thanks, it still leaves the purpose rather uncertain but random number generator seems ruled out - 10/03/2013 05:10:05 PM 1143 Views
One would THINK so, yes.... - 11/03/2013 04:54:05 PM 1011 Views
Re: It's the Zany Popetastic Sede Vacante Supergame! - 08/03/2013 12:06:51 AM 832 Views
I'll go with Cardinal Turkson, Benedict XVII, March 22nd - 08/03/2013 12:10:32 AM 833 Views
Re: It's the Zany Popetastic Sede Vacante Supergame! - 08/03/2013 02:21:51 AM 992 Views
Eh, why not? - 08/03/2013 02:26:37 AM 970 Views
Hugo Chavez *NM* - 08/03/2013 09:46:22 AM 501 Views
Re: It's the Zany Popetastic Sede Vacante Supergame! - 08/03/2013 03:17:22 PM 715 Views
White Smoke *NM* - 13/03/2013 06:43:56 PM 455 Views
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I love that you guessed after it happened and still got it wrong - 14/03/2013 02:18:53 PM 773 Views
so sue me! - 16/03/2013 06:31:40 PM 875 Views
I had the feeling it was going to be one of the Latin Americans - 14/03/2013 06:16:10 PM 739 Views

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