Who is more mathematically intelligent? A camel, or a frozen troll?
- Thread starter DeuxiemeCarlin
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Welcome, DeuxiemeCarlin! Please introduce yourself in the Welcome thread. 
As for your question ... I'm afraid on Terry would know the definitive answer to this one. But here's my guess:
1. The camel is incredibly intelligent, mathematically. But it has no way to demonstrate this intelligence to the outside world.
2. If the troll is frozen, it is likewise unable to demonstrate his/her intelligence.
Therefore, the answer is: neither of them and both of them.
Obviously, this answer is a logical impossibility - which means that to understand it, you must be a mathematical genius yourself!
As for your question ... I'm afraid on Terry would know the definitive answer to this one. But here's my guess:
1. The camel is incredibly intelligent, mathematically. But it has no way to demonstrate this intelligence to the outside world.
2. If the troll is frozen, it is likewise unable to demonstrate his/her intelligence.
Therefore, the answer is: neither of them and both of them.
Obviously, this answer is a logical impossibility - which means that to understand it, you must be a mathematical genius yourself!
I was thinking about this the other day. It seems to me that Detritus was more intelligent than other trolls once his brain got cold. As far as we know, only You Bastard was particularly good at maths - and he was like that all the time . . . I don't know what the result of putting You Bastard in the Pork Futures Warehouse would be though.
Great question - this is the sort of thing that Terry makes us do.
Great question - this is the sort of thing that Terry makes us do.
You Bastard was noted as being the World's Greatest Mathematician but I cannot recall a reference to all camels being as mathematically gifted to such a degree. I would also imagine that most troll brains operate similarly, hence why they stopped functioning during the day as per the early books. Therefore, I would say if we were talking specific characters, You Bastard wins but if we are taking it as an average of the species as a whole, then I would say it would be the trolls but with You Bastard still at the top of the list.
At any given time, it would be You Bastard. But for one brief moment, it was definitely Detritus. He had to invent new maths as regular maths wasn't sufficient for his needs, and he distilled everything down to just an equals sign - presumably he also new what came after that, i.e. the answer to everything. Shame he almost died doing it, and we probably won't ever get that close again to pure truth.
Not to that degree, but the way I remember it, all camels were mathematically intelligent. Several others were mentioned because their names were given to mathematical concepts they invented. Even the least-intelligent camels could work the ancient camel mathematics to spit a glob of half-chewed food accurately.
Likes:
Molokov
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Hmm. While You Bastard is the greatest camel mathematician on the Disc, there is another that we know of.
Evil-Smelling-Bugger - perhaps an ancestor to You Bastard? - is well-known as the greatest camel-mathematician ever. He is famous for inventing eight-dimensional mathematics, but unfortunately, he is also notorious for his smell.
Trolls are not known for being genius mathematicians (unless they become very cold, of course). However, the older they get, the more deeply they start to think. Old Granddad (in TLF) thought so deeply about the mysteries of the universe that he almost didn't notice when those pesky humans lit a fire on his tongue. But when he did notice, he was ... perturbed. Incensed, even.
The character of Old Granddad is probably influenced by the rock formation known as The Old Man of the Mountain, in New Hampshire, USA.
Evil-Smelling-Bugger - perhaps an ancestor to You Bastard? - is well-known as the greatest camel-mathematician ever. He is famous for inventing eight-dimensional mathematics, but unfortunately, he is also notorious for his smell.
Trolls are not known for being genius mathematicians (unless they become very cold, of course). However, the older they get, the more deeply they start to think. Old Granddad (in TLF) thought so deeply about the mysteries of the universe that he almost didn't notice when those pesky humans lit a fire on his tongue. But when he did notice, he was ... perturbed. Incensed, even.
The character of Old Granddad is probably influenced by the rock formation known as The Old Man of the Mountain, in New Hampshire, USA.
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True, the "face" of the Old Man collapsed back in 2003. Still, TLF was written back in the 80s - and there's no shortage of rock formations that look like people.
And that Wiki doesn't mention the many, many Hoodoos in Arizona that are shaped like people. Chiricahua National Monument
