The komplex plane

The mathematical theory of big game hunting II

Following the seminal paper by H. Petard in 1938 introducing to the mathematical theory of big game hunting, a good many others were prompted to add to this literature. The following is one of these articles.

We here at The komplex plane include it here, together those other articles of which we are aware. We make no claim that this is a complete compendium, but we do feel they do provide the interested reader a solid introduction into this exciting branch of mathematics.

A new method of catching a lion

I. J. Good

In this note a definitive procedure will be provided for catching a lion in a desert (see [1]).

Let Q be the operator that encloses a word in (single) quotation marks. Its square Q² encloses a word in double quotes. The operator clearly satisfies the law of indices, Q^mQⁿ = Q^m+n. Write down the word lion, without quotation marks. Apply it to the operator Q^-1. Then a lion will appear on the page. It is advisable to enclose the page in a cage before applying the operator.

References

[1] H. Petard. A contribution to the mathematical theory of big game hunting, Amer. Math. Monthly 45 (1938) p446-447.

• Notes
  • Amer. Math. Monthly 72 (1965), p. 436.
• Further references
  • You may proceed to C. Roselius' article On a theorem of H. Petard, which presents a category theory technique.
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