69105 (number)
Encyclopedia
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.
, 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:
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."http://jargon-file.org/archive/jargon-1.0.5.dos.txt
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 fewer than six digits.
number and the fifth 6912-gonal number. It is also the 17th 510-gonal and the 15th 660-gonal number.
, the only OEIS reference to 69105 is , "Partial sums of Chebyshev sequence S(n, 16)," with 69105 corresponding to n = 4.
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.....".
Deadline
The serial number on the pharmacy label on the tablets is 69105.
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
There are 69,105 leaves in the sack found in Cleveland, Ohio
.
Wishbringer
At the lake edge, a "count leaves" gives
"A quick count turns up exactly 69,105 leaves."
in the mystery book is number 69105.
Zork I
Probably its most famous appearance:
Zork Zero
"This zoo, with 69,105 cages, is easily the largest in Quendor."
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground
Entering the Theater from the Cultural Complex:
's game I-0
:
In the NES
version of Ultima: Quest of the Avatar, one of the mages claims he's working on a book that has 69,105 pages so far.
In the Kingdom of Loathing
strange leaflet game-within-game, a parody of classic text adventures, the player can
count leaves and find 69,105 of them.
In TempusMUD, the throne of the Grand Mistress of Magic is made of 69,105 emeralds.
Number
A number is a mathematical object used to count and measure. In mathematics, the definition of number has been extended over the years to include such numbers as zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, and complex numbers....
69,105 was used as an in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
at the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
computer game manufacturer Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
. It has occasionally appeared in later computer games as a tribute to Infocom.
Significance of the number
Nick MontfortNick Montfort
Nick Montfort is an associate professor of digital media at MIT in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies. He is also a poet, computer scientist, and author of interactive fiction. Montfort has collaborated on the blog Grand Text Auto, the sticker novel Implementation, and the contemporary...
, 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
69 sex position
Sixty-nine or 69, also known by its French name soixante-neuf , is a group of sex positions in which two people align themselves so that each person's mouth is near the other's genitals, simultaneously performing oral sex. The participants are thus mutually inverted like the numerals 6 and 9 in...
, but also because in its written form 69,105 falls naturally into two parts with an unusual relationship:
- 69 in hexadecimalHexadecimalIn mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen...
is 105105 (number)105 is the natural number following 104 and preceding 106.-In mathematics:105 is a triangular number, a 12-gonal number and a Zeisel number. It is a sphenic number, and is the product of three consecutive prime numbers. 105 is the double factorial of 7...
in decimalDecimalThe decimal numeral system has ten as its base. It is the numerical base most widely used by modern civilizations.... - 6969 (number)69 is a number following 68 and preceding 70.- In mathematics:The aliquot sum of sixty-nine is 27 within the aliquot sequence 69 being the third composite number in the 13-aliquot tree.69 is a semiprime...
in decimal is 105 in octalOctalThe octal numeral system, or oct for short, is the base-8 number system, and uses the digits 0 to 7. Numerals can be made from binary numerals by grouping consecutive binary digits into groups of three...
This property was pointed out in a version of the Jargon File
Jargon File
The Jargon File is a glossary of computer programmer slang. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab and others of the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities, including Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Carnegie Mellon...
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."http://jargon-file.org/archive/jargon-1.0.5.dos.txt
The same natural relationship applies to 1,001
1001 (number)
1001 is the natural number following 1000 and followed by 1002.- In mathematics :One thousand and one is a sphenic number, a pentagonal number, a pentatope number and the first four-digit palindromic number.- In other fields :...
; 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 fewer than six digits.
In mathematics
69105 is the third 23036-gonalPolygonal number
In mathematics, a polygonal number is a number represented as dots or pebbles arranged in the shape of a regular polygon. The dots were thought of as alphas . These are one type of 2-dimensional figurate numbers.- Definition and examples :...
number and the fifth 6912-gonal number. It is also the 17th 510-gonal and the 15th 660-gonal number.
, the only OEIS reference to 69105 is , "Partial sums of Chebyshev sequence S(n, 16)," with 69105 corresponding to n = 4.
BureaucracyBureaucracy (computer game)Bureaucracy is an interactive fiction computer game released by Infocom in 1987, scripted by popular comic science fiction author Douglas Adams. It is Infocom's twenty-fourth game.-Setting:...
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.....".
DeadlineDeadline (computer game)Deadline is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1982. Written by Marc Blank, it was one of the first murder mystery interactive fiction games. Like most Infocom titles, Deadline was created using ZIL, which allowed the easy porting of the game to popular computer platforms...
The serial number on the pharmacy label on the tablets is 69105.Leather Goddesses of PhobosLeather Goddesses of PhobosLeather Goddesses of Phobos is an interactive fiction computer game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. Like many other Infocom titles, it was released for the IBM PC , Atari 8-bit, Amiga, Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST and Commodore 64 computers...
There are 69,105 leaves in the sack found in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
WishbringerWishbringerWishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and published by Infocom in 1985. It was intended to be an easier game to solve than the typical Infocom release, and provide a good introduction to interactive fiction for inexperienced players...
At the lake edge, a "count leaves" gives"A quick count turns up exactly 69,105 leaves."
The Witness
The gun receipt used as a bookmarkBookmark
A bookmark is used to keep one's place in a printed work. It can also refer to:* Bookmark , a pointer in an Internet Web browser* a marker of one's place in an electronic document...
in the mystery book is number 69105.
Zork IZork IZork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I, later known as Zork I, is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and published by Infocom in 1980. It was the first game in the popular Zork trilogy and was released for a wide range of...
Probably its most famous appearance:
- On the ground is a pile of leaves.
- >count leaves
- There are 69,105 leaves here.
Zork ZeroZork ZeroZork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz is an interactive fiction computer game, written by Steve Meretzky over nearly 18 months and published by Infocom in 1988, with an original retail price of $59.95...
"This zoo, with 69,105 cages, is easily the largest in Quendor."Zork: The Undiscovered UndergroundZork: The Undiscovered UndergroundZork: The Undiscovered Underground is an interactive fiction computer game written by former Infocom Implementors Marc Blank and Michael Berlyn and implemented by G. Kevin Wilson using the Inform language. The game was released by Activision on August 28, 1997 for free to coincide with the release...
Entering the Theater from the Cultural Complex:
- "Built to the precise specifications of Lord Dimwit Flathead, its excessive structure holds 69,105 seats, …"
Appearances in later games
In Adam CadreAdam Cadre
Adam Cadre is a U.S. writer. He gained prominence in the world of interactive fiction with works like I-0 , Photopia and Varicella , for which he has won several XYZZY Awards and been the subject of academic study . Photopia additionally won the 1998 Interactive Fiction Competition...
's game I-0
I-0
I-0 is a piece of interactive fiction written by Adam Cadre about the adventures of a teenage girl hitch-hiking on the interstate freeway . It won the Best Game and Best Individual Player Character awards at the 1997 Xyzzy Awards, and was a finalist for six other categories...
:
- >open trunk
- You open the trunk, revealing your laundry.
- >examine laundry
- There are 69,105 pieces of laundry here.
In the NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
version of Ultima: Quest of the Avatar, one of the mages claims he's working on a book that has 69,105 pages so far.
In the Kingdom of Loathing
Kingdom of Loathing
Kingdom of Loathing is a browser-based, multiplayer role-playing game designed and operated by Asymmetric Publications, including creator Zack "Jick" Johnson and writer Josh "Mr. Skullhead" Nite. The game was released in 2003...
strange leaflet game-within-game, a parody of classic text adventures, the player can
count leaves and find 69,105 of them.
In TempusMUD, the throne of the Grand Mistress of Magic is made of 69,105 emeralds.