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Θ: Theta Prime or Bleem's Number

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Jul 9th, 2012
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  1. The Equation for the Secret Number was first discovered by an alert field staff member of the Special Containment Procedures (SCP) agency. It was written on a discarded, irregularly-torn napkin in a pub in an unknown university town in the late 1960s or early to mid 1970s. The Equation appeared as a field of complex mathematical symbols ranging from simple layman-identifiable representations to those only interpretable by highly-trained mathematicians. Professor Laszlo Bleem discovered that the sum of the symbols was equal to a previously unknown prime integer (designated Theta Prime or Θ) of intermediate value between 1 and 20.
  2.  
  3. As all modern mathematical calculations were performed lacking the knowledge or use of Theta Prime, its introduction into any system organized without it began eroding the numerical and eventually structural integrity of said system. This effect extended to the Equation's transfer to any computing or recording device it is input into. If inscribed on any other material, the Equation faded into unintelligibility in precisely 2560 seconds (42 minutes 40 seconds). In addition, the Equation had shown an ability to "leap" from a paper-like material (defined as paper, vellum, papyrus, or canvas) to a manufactured or electronic material which it could destabilize, requiring the institution of a 30 meter safe distance for electronic devices.
  4.  
  5. There was no safe form for electronic storage of the equation, so a few of the operational research projects involving it were dedicated to finding such a method for electronic storage. The rest were dedicated to the application of Theta Prime as a neutralizing factor for machine logic-based objects. Clarifying commentary from Professor Bleem during the Equation's can be found in Document 033-A:
  6.  
  7. [DATA EXPUNGED]
  8.  
  9. Prof. Bleem : Every school child knows that 2 plus 2 is 4. The solid mathematical certainty of numerical order and value is the basis for all logic-based systems. We know that after 2 comes 3 and after 3 comes 4. What this formula proves is that we missed a number somewhere. Imagine if all our technology was based on the belief that after 4 came 6. We simply didn't know or conceive of 5. That is in essence what this formula proves. We missed a number.
  10.  
  11. [DATA EXPUNGED]
  12.  
  13. Prof. Bleem : I can't tell you why the hand-crafted vellum works best. I can only surmise that it displaces mathematical predictability in two ways. One, the irregularity of the crafting process due to human error serves to eliminate any traces of regularity that would be found in a machine-created product. Two, the irregular borders seem to confuse it somehow, as if it gets locked up looking for a pattern to identify and use as an escape hatch. I'll tell you this, though, I don't think it should be left on anything longer than a few days. It will find a pattern eventually.
  14.  
  15. [DATA EXPUNGED]
  16.  
  17. Prof. Bleem : I don't think it "destroys" anything. I think it tries integrating itself into our system and our system can't hold it. It's like trying to cram another book into a full bookshelf. If you get a hammer, you can get it in there, but the whole shelf bursts eventually. If it gets out into the internet, we [DATA EXPUNGED]
  18.  
  19. End Document 033-A.
  20.  
  21. In 1980, while SCP was still carrying out research projects on the Equation and the Secret Number, two news developments suggested that Theta Prime may have been discovered independently. Reports disclosed that noted mathematician ███████ Ersheim, a professor at Stanford University, had succeeded in disproving the Riemann hypothesis while simultaneously proving that there is no actual counterexample. As this would require that the exception to the hypothesis be nonexistent, this alone indicated that Theta Prime may have be related. However, as the second report related the disablement of the local military network, SCP Agents were relocated there immediately to lock down the area and secure the breakout.
  22.  
  23. Professor Bleem was against the intervention of the agents and, unbeknownst to SCP, wrote and released a paper detailing the Equation and Theta Prime. He divulged there far more information than he had shared with the agency, explaining how it related to Peano arithmetic and the compactness theorem. Unfortunately, before the report was widespread, SCP became aware of it, assassinating Bleem through an engineered car crash and deleting all copies of the proof through a subtle computer virus. Thankfully, they also withdrew their troops from Professor Ersheim's vacinity, seeing as the connections were back online.
  24.  
  25. However, one copy of Bleem's report remained, printed out on paper. Thus the sole copy of Bleem's research belonged to Professor Ersheim. He, now free of the SCP Agents, began to continue his work on obscue number theory in secret, narrowing the range of Theta Prime- or bleem, as he called it in honor of its first researcher- to between the numbers 3 and 4. Finally, after researching and deducing the axioms and applications that would result from the Secret Number, he released a paper on it- locally, at first, and then hopefully more widespread. However, SCP soon caught whiff of the new pamphlet and took an indirect approach: fabricating reports to convince a local insane asylum to admit the Professor.
  26.  
  27. The asylum was hell for Ersheim. He was denied pen or any sort of paper, per request of SCP. As a result, he went almost mad, calculating in his head by night and trying to commit to memory by day. Without knowledge of the Agency, he began to blame the numbers for the death of Bleem and his own imprisonment. Furthermore, he was visited daily by Doctor Simon Tomlin, who would interview him with impossible questions about bleem. One such interview, from November 2000, is transcribed in Document 033-B:
  28.  
  29. Dr. Tomlin : How are you today, Professor Ersheim?
  30.  
  31. Prof. Ersheim : Fine, fine, thank you, just fine.
  32.  
  33. Dr. Tomlin : Have you been sleeping all right?
  34.  
  35. Prof. Ersheim : Oh, yes, I've been sleeping quite well, sleeping like a baby.
  36.  
  37. Dr. Tomlin : That's good to hear.
  38.  
  39. Prof. Ersheim : Oh, cut the nice-guy act, Doctor. I know you think I'm crazy, don't you think I know you think I'm crazy? That's what everyone thought about Laszlo Bleem, too; that's what they want you to think.
  40.  
  41. Dr. Tomlin : Who are you talking about, Professor? Who wants everyone to think you're crazy?
  42.  
  43. Prof. Ersheim : The numbers, Doctor, the numbers. They say that numbers don't lie, only they do, they lie all the time, they've always lied. But not to me -- oh, no, I see through their deceptions, I know what they're hiding.
  44.  
  45. Dr. Tomlin : And what would that be, Professor?
  46.  
  47. Prof. Ersheim : Bleem, that's what. Bleem! The secret integer between three and four.
  48.  
  49. Dr. Tomlin : We have been over this, Professor -- there is no integer between three and four.
  50.  
  51. Prof. Ersheim : Tell that to Laszlo Bleem, Doctor. Only you can't -- he's dead. He died for trying to expose bleem.
  52.  
  53. Dr. Tomlin : Laszlo Bleem died in a car accident, Professor.
  54.  
  55. Prof. Ersheim : Oh, grow up! The man published a paper detailing his discovery of an up-until-now unknown integer somewhere between one and twenty, stating that he was working on a proof of its existence and exact location, and a week after the paper is published -- poof! Bleem dies in a car crash, and his house burns down, destroying all of his written notes. The next day the computer system at his university crashes, erasing all of his electronic notes. Bleem got too close, see, and he was eliminated. Just as I'm going to be, if you don't listen to me.
  56.  
  57. Dr. Tomlin : All right Professor, let's say that there is, as you say, a secret integer between three and four. Positive integers are counting numbers, right?
  58.  
  59. Prof. Ersheim : That's right, Doctor. One, two, three, bleem, four . . .
  60.  
  61. Dr. Tomlin : That's enough, Professor. Now, if bleem is a counting number, that means that you can have bleem of something.
  62.  
  63. Prof. Ersheim : Of course. I didn't know you were a mathematician, Doctor.
  64.  
  65. Dr. Tomlin : Just bear with me, Professor.
  66.  
  67. Prof. Ersheim : What's that, Doctor?
  68.  
  69. Dr. Tomlin : Jelly beans. Now Professor Ersheim, I'd like you to please separate bleem of these jelly beans from the rest.
  70.  
  71. Prof. Ersheim : All right. [pause] I can't do it, Doctor.
  72.  
  73. Dr. Tomlin : So bleem is not an integer after all.
  74.  
  75. Prof. Ersheim : No! Blee, exists! Something prevented me from separating bleem jelly beans! I could have three or four, but not bleem!
  76.  
  77. Dr. Tomlin : Calm down, Professor. I was here, I watched what you were doing, and there was nothing restraining you, nothing preventing you from separating out bleem jelly beans except for the fact that bleem doesn't exist.
  78.  
  79. Prof. Ersheim : But it does exist. It does exist. And I can prove it!
  80.  
  81. Dr. Tomlin : How can you prove it, Professor, if you insist that there is an omnipresent, invisible force keeping it secret?
  82.  
  83. Prof. Ersheim : Remember, Doctor, that I'm a mathematician, and a damn good one. All of mathematics has been doctored in order to conceal bleem's existence, see, but it wasn't doctored perfectly, oh no. There is an obscure branch of number theory that I helped invent about twenty years ago, and I think I can apply some of its theorems to prove that, in order for mathematics to be consistent, there must be an integer between three and four. That was the topic of my lecture during which I was so rudely interrupted by several of my colleagues and lost my temper.
  84.  
  85. Dr. Tomlin : Those colleagues didn't seem impressed by your proof, Professor.
  86.  
  87. Prof. Ersheim : That's because I haven't worked out all the particulars of the proof yet. And even if I had, none of those idiots knows the first thing about my research. But I'm close, Doctor, I can feel it. Just let me out of here, let me return to my research, and I'll have the proof in just a few months. Or at least allow me access to a pen and some paper so that I can work in here.
  88.  
  89. Dr. Tomlin : All right, Professor. I'll think about what you've told me. I just have one more question for you.
  90.  
  91. Prof. Ersheim : What's that, Doctor?
  92.  
  93. Dr. Tomlin : What possible reason could anyone have to keep secret the existence of a number?
  94.  
  95. Prof. Ersheim : I'm not sure. Perhaps bleem has some mystical properties -- don't give me that look, Doctor -- or is believed to have them. Numerology has always had a fanatical following. Or perhaps the knowledge of bleem would allow us to attain a much higher level of mathematical sophistication. It might allow us to come up with a mathematically viable theory of time travel, or faster-than-light communication, or who knows what else.
  96.  
  97. Dr. Tomlin : I see. And you really think the discovery of bleem might make these things possible?
  98.  
  99. Prof. Ersheim : I don't know, but who's to say it won't?
  100.  
  101. Dr. Tomlin - I see your point. Well, Professor, I'm very glad we had this talk. You've given me a lot to think about. I'll see you in a couple of days.
  102.  
  103. End Document 033-B.
  104.  
  105. Later that night, Ersheim created a writing utensil from a drinking straw and used grape juice as ink so that he could transcribe equations onto his cell walls. When the hospital assistant responsible for Ersheim's room entered to awake him at six o'clock the next morning, the Professor was missing. All of his clothes were piled up in one corner, although the door was locked from the outside and the night watchman reported nothing out of the ordinary.
  106.  
  107. According to Tomlin's diary, parts of which Igor Teper, a student of Ersheim's, posted online, there were three jelly beans on Ersheim's nightstand. However, when the hospital assistant ate one jelly bean, three remained, indicating that there were actually bleem jelly beans on the table. It is unknown if this is true or a dramatization by Teper, but it is true that there were no traces of Ersheim past that date in November. It has been speculated that Ersheim actually traveled through the bleem dimension back in time or that he was kidnapped by the Agency.
  108.  
  109. Although Ersheim's pamphlet nor Bleem's report were ever released onto the Internet, several groups of people on different forums have speculated about the "Secret Number". Several theories about its value are that it is:
  110. - -0.0833333333 (the Ramanujan sum of the infinite series 1+2+3+4+...; -1/12)
  111. - ∞ (the answer to the generating function of the infinite series 1+2+3+4+...; 1/0)
  112. - 1/∞ (the smallest real number greater than zero)
  113. - 137.0359990742 (the denominator of the fine-structure constant)
  114. - 0.0072973526 (the fine-structure constant; 1/137.035999074)
  115. - 3.1415926535 (the diameter of a circle divided by its diameter; π)
  116. - 3.1622776601 (the square root of ten; √10)
  117. - 3.1519351568 (the average of 3.1415926535 and 3.1622776601)
  118. - a number between 6 and 7 (bleen)
  119. - a number in base eleven
  120. - simply an added feature of a non-standard model of arithmetic
  121. The true value of Theta Prime is as yet unknown to the public.
  122.  
  123. Sources:
  124. http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-033
  125. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2000/20001120/secret_number.shtml
  126. http://secretnumber.colinlevy.com/
  127. http://bleen.net/
  128. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3343387
  129. http://www.1377731.com/137/
  130. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_%2B_2_%2B_3_%2B_4_%2B_…
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