History Main / FirstContactMath

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', this problem is usually absent due to the presence of the TARDIS's [[TranslatorMicrobes Universal Translator]], however it arises in the episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]" when he encounters 2-dimensional entities who have been abducting and killing people. The Doctor (hoping that the creatures are a NonMaliciousMonster who are simply so alien and confused by a 3-D world they don't realise they're harming sentient beings,) attempts to communicate with them using the digits of pi. They respond with the number on the jacket of the man they killed, and then [[EvilGloating the number of the one they're about to]].

* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/ChanurSaga'', when the human Tully is cornered by the [[CatFolk felinoid Hani]], he writes out (in his own blood) numbers from zero on up. When he gets to 10 they realize that he might be using a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positional_notation positional notation system]].

* In ArthurCClarke's novel version of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', Dave Bowman tries (unsuccessfully) to talk to the Iapetus monolith by broadcasting primes at it.

* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''ChanurSaga'', when the human Tully is cornered by the [[CatFolk felinoid Hani]], he writes out (in his own blood) numbers from zero on up. When he gets to 10 they realize that he might be using a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positional_notation positional notation system]].

* ''SupermanUnchained'': On the brink of World War II in 1938, US scientists sent a mathematical equation into space, but the mathematical equation was incorrect, and added up to more than the sum of its parts, to signify the message "let us add up to more, together." Eleven seconds later, The Wraith's ship crash landed on Earth, with a similar, more complex equation.

* In ''Literature/{{Dreamcatcher}}'' by StephenKing, a population of infected send pleading messages interspersed with a recitation of prime numbers. One of the characters speculates it is to prove they've an intelligent species. They must not be that intelligent though, since they include 27 and 117 in their list. (Also 1, but that's actually reasonable.) This deviation from the primes isn't noted in the novel though, and was probably either unintentional or done because the numbers have significance to Derry, the novel's setting.

* In Creator/MichaelCrichton's ''{{Sphere}}'' this is the way Harry manages to first make meaningful contact with the mysterious alien presence.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', this problem is usually absent due to the presence of the TARDIS's [[TranslatorMicrobes Universal Translator]], however it arises in the episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]" when he encounters 2-dimensional entities who have been abducting and killing people. The Doctor attempts to communicate with them using the digits of pi. They respond with the number on the jacket of the man they killed, and then [[EvilGloating the number of the one they're about to]].

* In the free e-book released by NASA ''[[http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/archaeology_anthropology_and_interstellar_communication.html#.U4xUcij3O2B Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication]]'' is is posited that while math may be great for first contact we may run into some stumbling blocks trying to understand language without context to go by. The book cites how for years the Mayan number system was decoded and understood, however scholars were stumped for many years after by the written language. If we had that much trouble with a human language, things may be even harder working out an alien language, ''even if we can agree on math''.
* "[[http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~carlp/PDF/extraterrestrial.pdf Prime Numbers and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence]]" by Carl Pomerance, is an academic paper which discusses the idea in depth.
* Space probes (like Pioneer 10) we sent out of the Solar System usually contain this in some form. [[note]]And a star map telling them [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill where we are]], even if the probabilities of the probe being found by aliens is ''[[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale very low]]''. [[NakedPeopleAreFunny And naked people]]. (That last one is presumably to show what humans actually look like. ItMakesSenseInContext -- otherwise the aliens might assume that the probe itself is the intelligent life![[/note]]

* Space probes (like Pioneer 10) we sent out of the Solar System usually contain this in some form. [[note]]And a star map telling them [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill where we are]], even if the probabilities of the probe being found by aliens is [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale ''very'' low]]. [[NakedPeopleAreFunny And naked people]]. (That last one is presumably to show what humans actually look like. ItMakesSenseInContext -- otherwise the aliens might assume that the probe itself is the intelligent life![[/note]]

* Space probes (like Pioneer 10) we sent out of the Solar System usually contain this in some form. [[note]]And a star map telling them [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill where we are]]. [[NakedPeopleAreFunny And naked people]]. (That last one is presumably to show what humans actually look like. ItMakesSenseInContext -- otherwise the aliens might assume that the probe itself is the intelligent life![[/note]]

The generally accepted universal signal of intelligence in this situation is the ability to produce a sequence of prime numbers[[note]]Why? Because prime numbers are only divisible by the number one and themselves. For example, it doesn't matter what number base you are using or what you call the numbers, 7 rocks cannot be divided up into any whole number of equal groups of rocks without breaking them. '''If''' the aliens have math, they'll get this -- resource allocation is one of the first tricks any group has to figure out.[[/note]]--the idea is that they're too irregular to arise from any natural process[[note]]Although reproduction cycle periods of some insects tend to be a prime number of years to prevent matching another kind and then predators synchronising on them[[/note]] (i.e., no mathematical equation is known that will ''exhaustively'' produce them in reasonable time[[note]]There are equations that can produce an unlimited amount of prime numbers, but not all of them, and methods that will get them all, but the computation time is enormous.[[/note]]), but mathematically simple enough that it's assumed any intelligent being can recognize them as non-random. More generally, anything obviously recognizable as simple math (such as digits of pi, or a proof of the Pythagorean theorem) can serve the same function. Of course, the digits of pi will change if the aliens don't have a base-10 system ([[AlternativeNumberSystem odds are that they don't]]), while the prime numbers will not change if you represent them properly.

* In MichaelCrichton's ''{{Sphere}}'' this is the way Harry manages to first make meaningful contact with the mysterious alien presence.

* HBeamPiper's short story "Omnilingual" is an earlier example of the Periodic Table as universal key. It helps that the Martian language tends to make new words by combining existing ones, so that (for example) the word for "metal" is part of the names of various metallic elements.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]", the Doctor attempts to start communication with some 2-dimensional entities that have been abducting and/or killing people with the digits of pi. They respond with the number on the jacket of the man they killed, and then [[EvilGloating the number of the one they're about to]].

* In the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Through The Looking-Glass", Crichton realizes an extradimensional being is trying to communicate with them rather than hunt them when he sees that each group of talon slashes that it makes is prime.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]", the Doctor attempts to start communication with some 2-dimensional entities that have been abducting and/or killing people with the digits of pi.

The generally accepted universal signal of intelligence in this situation is the ability to produce a sequence of prime numbers[[note]]Why? Because prime numbers are only divisible by the number one and themselves. For example, it doesn't matter what number base you are using or what you call the numbers, 7 rocks cannot be divided up into any whole number of equal groups of rocks without breaking them. '''If''' the aliens have math, they'll get this -- resource allocation is one of the first tricks any group has to figure out.[[/note]]--the idea is that they're too irregular to arise from any natural process[[note]]Although reproduction cycle periods of some insects tend to be prime number of years to prevent matching other kind's ones and then predators synchronising on them[[/note]] (i.e., no mathematical equation is known that will ''exhaustively'' produce them in reasonable time[[note]]There are equations that can produce an unlimited amount of prime numbers, but not all of them, and methods that will get them all, but the computation time is enormous.[[/note]]), but mathematically simple enough that it's assumed any intelligent being can recognize them as non-random. More generally, anything obviously recognizable as simple math (such as digits of pi, or a proof of the Pythagorean theorem) can serve the same function. Of course, the digits of pi will change if the aliens don't have a base-10 system ([[AlternativeNumberSystem odds are that they don't]]), while the prime numbers will not change if you represent them properly.

Often this can look like an instance of OnlySmartPeopleMayPass. However, while OnlySmartPeopleMayPass happens in the context of a pre-created puzzle or situation, the entire point of FirstContactMath is that it provides the best hope we might have of communicating without having any context at all.

The generally accepted universal signal of intelligence in this situation is the ability to produce a sequence of prime numbers[[note]]Why? Because prime numbers are only divisible by the number one and themselves. For example, it doesn't matter what number base you are using or what you call the numbers, 7 rocks cannot be divided up into any whole number of equal groups of rocks without breaking them. '''If''' the aliens have math, they'll get this -- resource allocation is one of the first tricks any group has to figure out.[[/note]]--the idea is that they're too irregular to arise from any natural process[[note]]Although reproduction cycle periods of some insects tend to be prime number of years to prevent matching other kind's ones and then predators synchronising on them[[/note]] (i.e., no mathematical equation is known that will produce them), but mathematically simple enough that it's assumed any intelligent being can recognize them as non-random. More generally, anything obviously recognizable as simple math (such as digits of pi, or a proof of the Pythagorean theorem) can serve the same function. Of course, the digits of pi will change if the aliens don't have a base-10 system ([[AlternativeNumberSystem odds are that they don't]]), while the prime numbers will not change if you represent them properly.

* In the free e-book released by NASA ''[[http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/archaeology_anthropology_and_interstellar_communication.html#.U4xUcij3O2B Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication]]'' is is posited that while math may great for first contact we may run into some stumbling blocks trying to understand language without context to go by. The book cites how for years the Mayan number system was decoded and understood, however scholars were stumped for many years after by the written language. If we had that much trouble with a human language, things may be even harder working out an alien language, even if we can agree on math.

* In the free e-book released by NASA ''[[http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/archaeology_anthropology_and_interstellar_communication.html#.U4xUcij3O2B Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication]]'' is is posited that while math may great for first contact we may run into some stumbling blocks trying to understand language without context to go by. The book cites how for years the Mayan number system was decoded and understood, however scholars were stumped for years by the written language. If we had that much trouble with a human language, things may be even harder working out an alien language, even if we can agree on math.

* In the free e-book released by NASA ''[[http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/archaeology_anthropology_and_interstellar_communication.html#.U4xUcij3O2B Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication]]'' is is posited that while math may great for first contact we may run into some stumbling blocks trying to understand language without context to go by. The book cites how for years the Mayan number system was decoded and understood, scholars were stumped for years by the written language. If we had that much trouble with a human language, things may be even harder working out an alien language, even if we can agree on math.