» About     » Archive     » Submit     » Authors     » Search     » Random     » Specials     » Statistics     » Forum     » RSS Feed     Updates Daily

No. 254: Almost Everywhere Zero Garfield

First | Previous | 2010-01-28 | Next | Latest

Almost Everywhere Zero Garfield

First | Previous | 2010-01-28 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=254

Strip by: Quaternion

Garfield: Zero.
Garfield: Still zero.
Jon: How are the sit-ups going?
Garfield: Darn! You made me lose count!

The author writes:

The #80 strip doesn't fully utilise (or alternatively does, just doesn't mention it) the definition of the Zero Function. So I decided to take product of the identity function and the characteristic function of the Sierpinski Carpet. In other words, every point belonging to the Sierpinski Carpet retains its original colour, while others points will be black. Since the Sierpinski Carpet is a fractal, it has measure zero, making the function zero almost everywhere.

The tragic lack of infinite-resolution bitmaps make an accurate depiction impossible, so I decided to compromise, and follow through only the first 3 steps of the construction of the Sierpinski Carpet. Of course, a pitch-black rectangle very much like no.80 would be a more accurate depiction of the function; I think my version illustrates the concept more nicely, and has the added benefit of not being a blatant repost with a fancy, long-winded alternative description.

Original strip: 1998-07-24.