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Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: Questions/Meta

Perplex City Map analysis

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YahwehTzVaoth
Boot

Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 18
Location: Boston, MA

Perplex City Map analysis

Originally this was text in another thread I started, but it made more sense to put it in its own thread. Just trying to save forum moderators work.
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Did anybody with all the cards ever lay them down to see the map in person? If so, how big was it.

ADDENDUM:
I tried to do the math to come up with my own answer to the last question. However it doesn't make any sense.

According to perplexcitycardcatalog.com there where 256 cards in Season one, and a collectable gold one. Sente's message was on the back all the reds and oranges (haven't double-check but I read in JAnuary that The Cube has credits or signatures on the back of it).

This leaves 192 cards with measurements of 5.75" by 4.25".
Meaning the map measures 1104" 816", or 92 ft by 68 ft.

That's a lot of map. Thus, I am forced to conclude that no one ever attempted it. It might have happened - or should happen in the future- at a live event. But even so, you'd need to be on a crane to see it properly.

On a lower budget you could use a mall. I don't know what malls are like in other countries, but if you could get into one without there being anyone there, the cards could be laid out in a concourse an look at them from a balcony. This would have the added benefit of there being no wind.

Thank goodness for Google Map technology.

FURTHER ADDENDUM: I have thought some more about this problem. Kind of flashing myself a red incorrect. I had assumed that the map would have the same ratio of sides as the cards (1.3529411764705882352941176470588) as the actual map (4/3). I also assumed that the measurement on Firebox was correct. ThinkGeek lists them as 6"x4". This leads to a ratio of 1.5, so I guess Firebox is more on the ball with the measurements.

At some point the spirit of David Hume gripped me and I decided to measure a card for myself. My girlfriend is into graphic design so she has the only good rulers in the house. I got one. It was was metric. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Long story short: 14.8cm x 10.5cm or 5.867716476" x 4.1338582635". We'll call it 5.868" x 4.134".

The full map is 16 x 12 cards, 192 in total. The cards laid down horizontally, making the dimensions of the map, 70.416" x 66.144" (12 * 5.868 and 16 * 4.134). A much more reasonable 5.868 ft x 5.512 ft. Approx 6ft by 5.5ft. So maybe someone did once lay them out together. This would account for why the whole map also looks like a square when you zoom out.

For extra nerd points, looking at http://www.perplexcitymap.com/ reveals that the map in question is not even a complete map of the greater Perplex City Metro Area.

NOTE: Have not checked, but I would hope that the above analysis is in some other, much earlier, post. This kind of got away from me. I didnt mean to spend two-thirds of an hour writing up the Perplex City map. But I thought someone might get a kick reading how I attacked this problem and the evolution of the thought process. It leads to the lesson that when something doesn't seem right in attacking a puzzle or problem, its best to double check. It also helps if the answer you come up with seems very odd. A 6256 sq ft map did seem like a lot for so few cards when I put down the calculator.

MORAL: This might come up in a puzzle card (might already have, I haven't done them all), when a group of polygons are combined into a new polygon, the length of the edge of the new polygon will never be greater than or equal to the combined lengths of the component polygons as many will share common sides.

I should have called this post "How YahwehtTzVaoth rediscovered a basic principle of geometry."

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 4:16 am

aliendial
Unfictologist

Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 3438
Location: Far Far Away. Nowhere Near You. Really.

<looks>

Yes, it's big.
But not THAT big. (er- not as big as your first guess; much closer to your second)

6 or 7 feet square.

_________________
aliendial

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 4:44 pm

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