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fox_in_socks · 10-20-2005, 03:10 AM

Professor Fox sighed, and nodded. "Okay then, we will move right along I suppose." He pulled out some parchment from his satchel and skimmed through it quickly, then stated, "Now the first question in the homework that was offered was the following: 'How does an arithmancer reduce a magical spell to numbers?'" He leaned against the front desk and turned to the classroom.
"Now, in the kind of Arithmancy we are addressing in this term, we are learning about the inherent magical properties in numbers so as to be able to understand magic and magical spells unfamiliar to us. As such, using those properties, one examines a given magical spell and sees what its properties are, and what happens to the magic under certain circumstances. Then a well trained Arithmancer may figure the number associated with that spell and work backwards to find the set of known magical spells that can be used to break it." He paused for a moment to let the students take it in.

"Each magic spell can be represented by a given prime number, such as 101 for instance. Deciding which number to give to a spell requires quite a bit of practice, intuition, and lots of experience as well as numerous attempts. The number 101 for example is prime, symmetric, purely composed of identity numbers, contains no composites, no 7, 2, 3, or 5. So if it corresponded to a magical spell (which it doesn't) the spell would be very short lived, have little connection to the physical world, and have a rather intuitive method of delivery as it contains no 2 or 3.
"This is again, simply the threshold examining this number. We haven't seen how it changes under operations with other numbers. Suffice it to say, it is a very complex process and requires years of training outside of Hogwarts." He took a breath, then continued, "This is the reason we are learning the properties of numbers first. Only be having a good understanding of the properties of numbers can you be trained to carry on advanced Aritmancy work outside of school. Are there any questions before I move to the next question?"

10-20-2005, 03:10 AM	#15 (permalink)
fox_in_socks sox master Puffskein Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1,506 Hogwarts RPG Name: Saroja	Professor Fox sighed, and nodded. "Okay then, we will move right along I suppose." He pulled out some parchment from his satchel and skimmed through it quickly, then stated, "Now the first question in the homework that was offered was the following: 'How does an arithmancer reduce a magical spell to numbers?'" He leaned against the front desk and turned to the classroom. "Now, in the kind of Arithmancy we are addressing in this term, we are learning about the inherent magical properties in numbers so as to be able to understand magic and magical spells unfamiliar to us. As such, using those properties, one examines a given magical spell and sees what its properties are, and what happens to the magic under certain circumstances. Then a well trained Arithmancer may figure the number associated with that spell and work backwards to find the set of known magical spells that can be used to break it." He paused for a moment to let the students take it in. "Each magic spell can be represented by a given prime number, such as 101 for instance. Deciding which number to give to a spell requires quite a bit of practice, intuition, and lots of experience as well as numerous attempts. The number 101 for example is prime, symmetric, purely composed of identity numbers, contains no composites, no 7, 2, 3, or 5. So if it corresponded to a magical spell (which it doesn't) the spell would be very short lived, have little connection to the physical world, and have a rather intuitive method of delivery as it contains no 2 or 3. "This is again, simply the threshold examining this number. We haven't seen how it changes under operations with other numbers. Suffice it to say, it is a very complex process and requires years of training outside of Hogwarts." He took a breath, then continued, "This is the reason we are learning the properties of numbers first. Only be having a good understanding of the properties of numbers can you be trained to carry on advanced Aritmancy work outside of school. Are there any questions before I move to the next question?" __________________ You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia.