Really unique program idea

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04 Jan. 2013, 03:08am
323

Really unique program idea

So, I was watching the show Person of Interest, and I saw a really unique idea for a program.

The one main character created one of the worlds most powerful super computers, and it could pretty much monitor every security camera everywhere and stuff like that, and he made it for the Department of Defense. Obviously fake, but a unique idea. Not what this post is about either, just giving some background.

The other person in this scene is a supposedly genius kid who made a compression algorithm that would allow 230+ terabytes to fit on a single thumb drive. Though they never say the size of the thumb drive, lol.

But so the main character guy says "Here" and hands him a piece of paper. It has the first 3,000 digits of Pi on it. The genius kid goes "What's this for?" and the main character guy says "My phone number is somewhere in there. You're smart, I'm sure you'll find it." and it was intriguing to me.

My parents and sister were all talking about how they would cry if something like that happened to them because of how impossible it would be, but it seemed simple to me. All you would have to do is make a program that compares the digits on the paper to the digits of the normal Pi, and mark down any that are incorrect. From there, all it would take is calling every single combination of these numbers, or making all of the combinations and looking up the first three numbers of them as an area code, and cut out all of the ones that have a nonexistent area code or an area code that would be illogical, like in a complete different country or state or something.

Anyway, that's about it. I don't think that anyone would really be a genius to solve that. (Of course, I took an I.Q. test before and got a score of 158, but I don't really believe that. A friend of mine has 140, but I'm as smart as him, so I think mine is around there)
04 Jan. 2013, 03:14am
The Unintelligible

Tl;dr.

P.S. This belongs in the Programming section.
04 Jan. 2013, 03:46am
323

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Unintelligible

Tl;dr.

P.S. This belongs in the Programming section.

Lol it's just a thing that was on TV. Pretty much comparing two strings of numbers and recording the differences, and then making a phone number out of that. They tried to make it sound like you would have to be a genius to do it.

And oh yeah, sorry. I would ask a staff member to move it, but there's no staff members left.
04 Jan. 2013, 04:16am
Stapled

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flareboy323

Lol it's just a thing that was on TV. Pretty much comparing two strings of numbers and recording the differences, and then making a phone number out of that. They tried to make it sound like you would have to be a genius to do it.

And oh yeah, sorry. I would ask a staff member to move it, but there's no staff members left.

My favourite thing about this site.

Also, it would be simple to take the numbers that didn't match and build the phone number but in the right order.... not so simple.
04 Jan. 2013, 04:54pm
323

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stapled

My favourite thing about this site.

Also, it would be simple to take the numbers that didn't match and build the phone number but in the right order.... not so simple.

That's why I had said this:

Quote:

making all of the combinations and looking up the first three numbers of them as an area code, and cut out all of the ones that have a nonexistent area code or an area code that would be illogical, like in a complete different country or state or something.
04 Jan. 2013, 08:17pm
Isonyx

Or the algorithm for solving it could be completely different and you wouldn't have a clue since you came up with your own algorithm based on nothing whatsoever.

Your method would just yield gibberish because in actuality the method of solving would be much more convoluted and cool.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if the paper had "the first 3,000 digits of Pi" why would the paper contain "digits that are incorrect".
I thought the paper had the first 3,000 digits of the "normal Pi".

Seems like you came up with a method of decoding an encryption that wasn't directly related to the situation presented to you.
Again, I may be missing something.
04 Jan. 2013, 09:25pm
The Unintelligible

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isonyx

Or the algorithm for solving it could be completely different and you wouldn't have a clue since you came up with your own algorithm based on nothing whatsoever.

Your method would just yield gibberish because in actuality the method of solving would be much more convoluted and cool.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if the paper had "the first 3,000 digits of Pi" why would the paper contain "digits that are incorrect".
I thought the paper had the first 3,000 digits of the "normal Pi".

Seems like you came up with a method of decoding an encryption that wasn't directly related to the situation presented to you.
Again, I may be missing something.

Sounds about right.

Seems more like a misinterpretation to me. Didn't read all of his post, but it seems like he's just drawing that conclusion and didn't really look into the details in-depth.

I stopped reading after he said his friend had an IQ of 140, and he had one of 158. As if standard IQ tests are reliable. As if IQ tests that aren't administered by someone highly qualified are reliable.

IQ tests in general aren't reliable.

Sorry to break it to you OP, but you aren't a genius. Most likely neither is your friend. Genius is a pretty overused term nowadays. I think we often overlook how much of a rarity a genius is and what really constitutes being one.
05 Jan. 2013, 02:18am
2pac

ITT:

Flare tries to sound smart for the 100x
05 Jan. 2013, 03:29am
The Unintelligible

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2pac

ITT:

Flare tries to sound smart for the 100x

Time .
05 Jan. 2013, 03:15pm
323

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Unintelligible

Sounds about right.

Seems more like a misinterpretation to me. Didn't read all of his post, but it seems like he's just drawing that conclusion and didn't really look into the details in-depth.

I stopped reading after he said his friend had an IQ of 140, and he had one of 158. As if standard IQ tests are reliable. As if IQ tests that aren't administered by someone highly qualified are reliable.

IQ tests in general aren't reliable.

Sorry to break it to you OP, but you aren't a genius. Most likely neither is your friend. Genius is a pretty overused term nowadays. I think we often overlook how much of a rarity a genius is and what really constitutes being one.

Lol well my friend is in Mensa, but whatever, that apparently means nothing?

And I know that high IQs don't make someone genius, that's why I'm saying I think it's kind of dumb.
05 Jan. 2013, 06:02pm
Drakonid

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flareboy323

Lol well my friend is in Mensa, but whatever, that apparently means nothing?

And I know that high IQs don't make someone genius, that's why I'm saying I think it's kind of dumb.

Mensa is a circle jerk for barely above average people.
05 Jan. 2013, 09:26pm
Isonyx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flareboy323

Lol well my friend is in Mensa, but whatever, that apparently means nothing?

And I know that high IQs don't make someone genius, that's why I'm saying I think it's kind of dumb.

We shouldn't ask ourselves if it means something, we should ask ourselves what it means.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakonid

Mensa is a circle jerk for barely above average people.

On the real though, I know a few people in Mensa who's personal lives are a disaster.
So what does it matter if they do better than average on a flawed test that doesn't accurately measure intellect?