69105 (number)
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The number 69,105 was used as an in-joke at the United States computer game manufacturer Infocom. It has occasionally appeared in later computer games as a tribute to Infocom.
| Cardinal | Sixty-nine thousand one hundred [and] five |
| Ordinal | 69105th |
| Factorization |  |
| Binary | 10000110111110001 |
| Hexadecimal | 10DF1 |
Contents |
[edit] In mathematics
69105 is the third 23036-gonal number and the fifth 6912-gonal number. It is also the 17th 510-gonal and the 15th 660-gonal number.
As of 2006, the only OEIS reference to 69105 was (sequence A097830 in OEIS), "Partial sums of Chebyshev sequence S(n, 16)," with 69105 corresponding to n = 4.
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Appearances in Infocom games
[edit] Bureaucracy
The sample transcript includes a ticket with the description: "Ticket number 69105. Seat 25F. Acme Building Auditorium."
Running the adventure game cartridge causes the Boysenberry computer to crash almost immediately, with the message, "INTERNAL ERROR 69105.....".
[edit] Deadline
The serial number on the pharmacy label on the tablets is 69105.
[edit] Leather Goddesses of Phobos
There are 69,105 leaves in the sack found in Cleveland, Ohio.
[edit] Trinity
There are 69,105 leaves in the book in the cottage.
[edit] Wishbringer
At the lake edge, a "count leaves" gives
"A quick count turns up exactly 69,105 leaves."
[edit] Zork I
Probably its most famous appearance:
- On the ground is a pile of leaves.
- >count leaves
- There are 69,105 leaves here.
[edit] Zork Zero
"This zoo, with 69,105 cages, is easily the largest in Quendor."
[edit] Appearances in later games
In Adam Cadre's game I-0:
- >open trunk
- You open the trunk, revealing your laundry.
- >examine laundry
- There are 69,105 pieces of laundry here.
In the Kingdom of Loathing strange leaflet game-within-game, a parody of classic text adventures, you can count leaves and find 69,105 of them.
[edit] Significance of the number
Nick Montfort, in his book Twisty Little Passages (ISBN 0-262-13436-5), suggests that the number was chosen not only because 69 is the common name of a sexual position, but also because in its written form 69,105 falls naturally into two parts with an unusual relationship:
- 69 in hexadecimal is 105 in decimal
- 69 in decimal is 105 in octal
This property was pointed out in a version of the Jargon File dating back at least to 1982. Commenting on the ("Exclusive to MIT-AI") usage of 69 as a generic "large quantity", Guy L. Steele said, "I don't know whether its origins are related to the obscene interpretation, but I do know that 69 decimal = 105 octal, and 69 hexadecimal = 105 decimal, which is a nice property."[1]
The same natural relationship applies to 1,001, 2,002, 3,003, 4,004, 5,005, 6,006, 7,007, 64,100, 65,101, 66,102, 67,103, and 68,104. However, 69,105 is the highest number with this property (with less than six digits).
