Quincunx
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For Sir Francis Galton's machine for demonstrating the normal distribution named "quincunx", see bean machine.
A quincunx is the arrangement of five units in the pattern corresponding to the five-spot on dice, playing cards, or dominoes. The quincunx is named after the Roman coin of the same name.
The significance of the quincunx pattern originates in Pythagorean mathematical mysticism. This pattern lies at the heart of the Pythagorean tetraktys, a pyramid of ten dots. To the Pythagoreans the number five held particular significance and the quincunx pattern represented this significance.
Quincunx patterns occur in many contexts:
- A quincunx was the standard tactical formation for elements of a Roman legion.
- A quincunx is a standard pattern for planting an orchard, especially in France.
- Quincunxes are used in modern computer graphics as a sampling pattern for anti-aliasing.
- The spots on 5th side of a dice form a quincunx.
- In astrology (and less commonly in astronomy), a quincunx is an angle of five-twelfths of a circle, or 150°, between two objects (the Sun, Moon or planets).
- The points on each face of a unit cell of a face-centred cubic lattice form a quincunx.
- A quincuncial map is a conformal map projection that maps the poles of the sphere to the centre and four corners of a square, thus forming a quincunx.
[edit] Books
- The English physician Sir Thomas Browne in his philosophical discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) elaborates upon evidence of the quincunx pattern in art, nature and mystically as 'evidence' of intelligent design.
- The Quincunx (ISBN 0-345-37113-5) is the title of a lengthy and elaborate novel by Charles Palliser set in 19th-century England, published in 1989.
