Sunday 30 March 2014

S6.216 - Mahou Shoujo Statistical Coping Flaw



The Story So Far: After leaving Fractal City, personified math must deal with a wormhole that could bring them to Statistics... help point the way back home... or destroy them outright.

"You're intersecting with MY magical guide!" Hyper shouted, shaking her fist at the quartic.

"Yeah, that's not typical factored form for you," Para noted. "Though... the pink hair... is a nice touch." For some reason, she felt her cheeks growing warmer the longer she stared at QT.


Mahou Shoujo
=
Magical Girl
"Hyper, you can talk with Sigma as soon as the crisis has passed," QT assured the green haired conic. The magical girl grabbed for one of the support posts on the gazebo, as the ship pitched slightly to the side. It was hovering just above the ground, near to the rapidly overloading Jump Gate. "But right now, I'm better equipped to understand the A.I.'s statistical information." She took a deep breath and pointed with her large factoring fork. "Here's the thing. While going to statistics won't kill us, I've learned that without proper understanding... pure stats can drive the ignorant insane!!"

"Bwahahaha! That's fine! I've already turned a replimator into a flux capacitor!!" Dr. Nisano said, throwing his head back and laughing in delight.

"Meaning you're already insane," Root pointed out, as he attempted to plug in a section of cable under the Dial Out Device. Nearby, ArcCos sighed.

"It's fine," Maud said to QT, from off to the side. "We have a back up plan now - returning us to mathematics. I'm here waiting for Signum, and for the flux capacitor to get enough charge."

"'Cept I'm nae sure about tha device," Cotangent remarked. "Wi' th' flux, seems like we mae return ta math before we e'en left!"


"Well, regardless," Can-Tor said, climbing out of the gazebo's floor hatch, "I need to set the charges on your Jump Gate to prevent the implosion." She ignored the stares from everyone assembled, nimbly jumping off the gazebo and striding over to the active wormhole.


"Huh. You weren't kidding about her," Root remarked to Para. "And the rest of the fractals... they all look... that way?"

"What? Er, yes." The bunny girl finally pulled her attention off of QT. "Time we loaded everyone over at the cliff into Logan's ship! You guys can handle the rest of your technical stuff without more supplies?"

"Yeah, we're good," ArcCos assured. "The timing's going to be interesting though. The tear in reality and the Jump Gate wormhole might not interact well, but of course we need the tear before exploding the wormhole. I'm working on some calculations."

"Hmph! And so long as my magic's been HIJACKED, I might as well give things a final scientific once over!" Hyper said, glaring daggers at QT.

The polynomial function elected to turn away from the conic. She moved to the central gazebo hatchway, as Para jumped on board. "Logan, we're good, head for the cliff edge!" QT shouted down. The ship shuddered and tilted a bit as it flew off, sending Para tumbling to the floor. QT hurried over to help her up.

"It's fine, I calculated my rate of descent," Para mumbled, though she accepted the help standing.

"So... we're going to math? Not statistics?" QT confirmed. "Because ParaB is still in Fractal City! How can we go back to get her if we--"

"Actually, she'll be coming here with Signum. I think."


"You THINK??"

"Our telepathy is spotty when one of us is in hyperspace," Para explained. "Which is where ParaB definitely is now. Thing is, I couldn't quite pick up on the how or why... and she broadcasted something strange to me right before we lost contact. Say, maybe you can make sense of it?"

"Maybe?" QT said uncertainly.

"She sent 'We have to stay and fight!'. But I don't see how we're supposed to do that, as this whole area is going to get totaled by that wormhole."

QT opened and closed her mouth.  "I... I don't know either. Give me a second to see if Sigma has insights." She closed her eyes, and the jewel in the bow on her front briefly flashed red. Ultimately though, QT shook her head. "All she can say is that the probability for us fighting TPTB and getting to math is non-zero."

Para pursed her lips. "Well, I suppose the probability for any two non-mutually exclusive events is non-zero. That doesn't necessarily mean anything." And yet both of Taylor's Polynomials were left wondering.


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2 comments:

  1. So, does this mean QT is a mathical girl now? :)

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    Replies
    1. Ha! Yes! I like that. Hopefully I can incorporate it somehow.

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