S6.188 - Set Theory

SERIES 6 INDEX

The Story So Far: The personified math-tans have been cast out of mathematics. Seeking probability in order to return, Logan and his crew made it to Fractal City - but not without cost. As his group try to understand the fractal inhabitants, the other mathematical relations struggle to come to terms with the repercussions of losing a primary function.

"We've veered from the point," Logan decided. "The fractals. Anything else you've noticed during our time here? Even something unimportant. We want to be as prepared as possible before our next meeting with Julia Childset or Howie Mandelbrot."

"There's more Julia sets than Mandelbrots," Cosecant offered. "Watching from my hotel room, I've seen a lot more iterations of her out there."

"Could just be the part of the city we're in," ParaB noted. "For instance, anyone in the Angle Zone would see Trigonometric Functions as outnumbering Polynomials."

"That's true," Csc yielded. She shook her head. "But it feels like more than that."

He may have been writing with a Fontaine pen

"I've seen other fractal individuals," Radik offered. "They're mostly staying clear of us, but my imaginary roots help me to spot them. Thus far I've seen an iteration of that Vicsek guy you described from the bar," he said, nodding towards Logan. "Also segmented hair girl, a guy whose hair looks like a blancmange, and some... peculiar entity in what I'd describe as an encounter suit."

Logan rubbed his chin. "Were they all... how do I put this delicately... sort of super deformed?"

Radik nodded. "Yeah. I've wondered about that appearance issue myself."

"Hm. Anything else then?" the logarithm inquired.

The step functions all exchanged glances. "I'm not sure my seduction power works on fractals," Hevvi admitted after a moment. "And since I know I can 'turn on' any function, either they're immune because they fail the vertical line test, like ParaB, or they're something else entirely."

"How are you not sure yet?" ParaB asked.

"I haven't tried to push it, it's only been subtle suggestions."

"You can be subtle?" Radik muttered.

Heaviside glowered at him, so Logan quickly spoke up again. "Thank you, 'Evvi, the information - and trust - is appreciated," he responded. He glanced down at his watch. "With that, we should probably head out to breakfast. Don't want to give the fractals the impression that we're plotting something. ParaB, will you fill in QT?"

"Um. Yup," the conic said, deliberately avoiding Radik's suspicious glare.

"We all know you two are sleeping together," the cube root abruptly challenged. "First excuse was ship repairs, then consoling each other, lately your quadcorder modifications... please! Why not simply admit to your illicit intersections?! That would be a good step towards getting some much needed help!"

"I'm sorry, did I miss the bit where you had proof of those outrageous statements??" ParaB fired in his direction, feeling her cheeks growing warm. Radik simply glowered, as everyone else began uncomfortably looking elsewhere. "As I thought. You don't even have a lemma, let alone a theorem. Talk to me when you learn how to construct a VALID mathematical proof!"

With that, ParaB stalked off towards the ladder at the back of the bridge. The meeting effectively having ended, the others followed shortly thereafter.

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