Number spirals
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Annotation
Introduction
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| Number ray |
Length units are used to visualize numbers on . The number ray starts from zero, since otherwise it is impossible to depict a unit segment as a unit of measurement. The distances between the numbers are the same and equal to a unit segment.
In 1963, Stanislaw Ulam proposed a spiral representation of the natural numbers. Today this visual representation of natural numbers is known as .
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| Ulam spiral |
The two-dimensional plane is divided into squares of the same size. In the center of the spiral there is a unit, around it one natural number fits into each square along the spiral. This spiral was built without using any units of measurement; there is no zero.
In 1994, Robert Sacks arranged the natural numbers in an Archimedean spiral and obtained the spiral known today as the Sacks spiral (described on Wikipedia in the section "Variants").
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| Sacks spiral |
To construct the spiral, Sacks used angle units for rotation and length units to determine the distance from the center of the spiral to each natural number. In the center of the spiral there is a zero, without which it is impossible to depict a unit of measurement of length. On the zero ray of angle units, Sacks placed the squares of natural numbers.
Continued: Number Spirals.
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