scunneen (he/him) 🚋Mar 13
Oscar Cunningham

It looks like the ⍼ saga has finally ended!

The unicode character '⍼' was a mystery first noticed in 2022: https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html. It's in the Unicode standard as a mathematical symbol. But no one could find any examples of it having been used, and no one knew what it represented. It was like the only record of an extinct species, fossilized in the Unicode standard.

But now someone has found the document it originally came from! It represents the angle 'Azimuth', and the symbol probably comes from the path light takes through a sextant. https://ionathan.ch/2026/02/16/angzarr.html

(@johncarlosbaez might appreciate this symbol!)

U+237C ⍼ RIGHT ANGLE WITH DOWNWARDS ZIGZAG ARROW

⟨λ. closure ahead⟩
Mar 11 at 8:38amWeb
Show threadchris martensMar 11
@johncarlosbaez @OscarCunningham thank you @ionchy :)
Show threadKolaMagpieMar 11
@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez I'll have to check my sextant's manual to see if it's in there!
Show threadNicolas DandrimontMar 11
@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez this one is for @th!
Show threadTrammell HudsonMar 11
@olasd @OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez the part about sextants being used for measuring azimuth is odd -- you almost never use them horizontal and would use a transit to instead.
Show threadTrammell HudsonMar 11
@olasd @OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez if you are in the 1800s and can't afford fancy chronometers, you might measure the distance from the sun to the moon with your sextant to correct your inaccurate clock, but that's the only time I've done anything other than vertical height angles.
Show threadRipp_ Mar 12
@th @olasd @OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez this was my first thought too, well after I looked up the azimuth because I can never remember the names for all the angles, but my RuneScape days exposed me to a sextant and I love them so I sure has heck know what they do
Show threadTeflonTrout  he/himMar 11

@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez

What the fuck?

Why is THIS the thing that fixed me

Show threadUriel FanelliMar 11
@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez Il seems to me Beth. In cantor transfinite theory, that is together with Aleph.
Show threadThe Silicon SorceressMar 11

@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez Oh that's really neat.

It looks very much like the Linking Sigil "Ellis", used in some modern spiritual/magical practices.

Show threadPianosaurus 🕴Mar 11
@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez Sorry, but this is absolutely not solved. The source listed is a register of symbols, not natural usage. Where did _they_ get it from in 1950? How is it better that it showed up magically there, instead of in unicode directly?
Show threadOscar CunninghamMar 11
@pianosaurus That's true. But it's a big improvement just to know what meaning that register assigned to the symbol!
Show threadPianosaurus 🕴Mar 11
@OscarCunningham Absolutely. I picked up on the wikipedia edit a few months ago (someone linked it here on Mastodon), and got my hopes up when I saw this now thinking it was more news. Hopefully, the buzz generated around it now will end up uncovering some more info.
Show threadcsMar 11
@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez Makes me wonder if there's a group of people out there nodding their heads say, "Yeah, I'm so glad that's included-- I use it all the time. Of course, the average person would only use it every couple of years or so."
https://xkcd.com/2501/
Average Familiarity

xkcd
Show threadaburka 🫣Mar 12

@cs @OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez yep right below you 😁 https://pouet.chapril.org/@bituur_esztreym/116213008022522948

my beef is they described it as a zigzag when it's clearly a spiral!

bituur esztreym (@[email protected])

Content warning: crashtxt unicode illisible

Mastodon Chapril
Show threadCrazypedia⍼ Mar 11
@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez cool! I stuck it in my username when I learned about it and now I'm keeping itn!
Show thread☮ ♥ ♬ 🧑‍💻Mar 11
@OscarCunningham I can see what the symbol represents; The representation is poorly executed. At low resolution that zigzag disappears into the three axis.
Show threadGuillaum sans EMar 11
@MoritzBrouhaha
Show threadDesign BrouhahaMar 12
@grillaum mais oui j'ai suivi l'histoire, incroyable Unicode !
Show threadTony PapinMar 12
@MoritzBrouhaha @grillaum
Vite, un nouveau numéro d'Unicode à gogo !
Show threadGuillaum sans EMar 12
@scotchpenicillin @MoritzBrouhaha avec une interview exclusive de ⍼
Show threadbituur esztreymMar 11

@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez
fascinating story! thanks!
i like it very much & use it a lot in my crashtxts, as in:

⥿╲ᅞᅞ̶̷̸ ̶̶͟ ̶̶̲ ͢͢͢ᵝͨͪɥµ͍͍͍͍͍͍͍͉͉͉͉͉͉͢͢͢͠ᅞᅞ┍ٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖ ་༛٫༚◦
҉྄྄྄྄ ྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄ྉ̅ ̅ ̅̊̇ͫͭͯᵎ̢̢͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚ͥͥͥͥͥͥ ⁸͜͟▁▁▁
ूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूू̷̸̶͞८↣ ▻᠊ूू᠊᠆ ूु᠆᠆᠆ᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞ∿ུུུུུ̎⃣ᵄͣͣͣ➢
⿱้้้ ํํํํํᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞ࿁
ᅞᅞ࿀ީ˜ᔈᔈ﹆ヾヽީ、、　༎כ⇁
💭:ﮱ⍼ணணᅞᅞ➛

or:

̅̄̄̄̄̄ ̅༶ེེེེེེེེེེེ≣≡ٖٖٖ⚌⚌⚌ᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞ▘ ▖

◄⃣◸༿̅̅༾░▂▁ ▁྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄▗ᅞ▝

⬊⥦⍼Ҩᓇ؎؎؎҂ᅞ⸻๋๋๋๋๋⤇ᓐᓪᔈֻֻ᷂⁾

﹆🌢🌢̷̸̶🌢Ꙅͯͯͯ.ͯͯͯͯͯɀᵅּּּूूूᔥ༎̶༎̶̥̥̥̅̊̊̊̊̊͞ Ⴠߞ ⛀ʦԅªم ⸺

⌜⌋́́́̓̓̓̓̓ɻ┥◂∿̨╭⃜╮╭┗⎛⧹̓̓̓◟⦦∵̈̈་̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈㉠↳༝ٖٖٖू
ᅞ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Show threadJohn Carlos BaezMar 12
@OscarCunningham - Hey, I should figure out a way to use this! Thanks!
Show threadTom LoweMar 12
@OscarCunningham that is a mad unicode symbol, totally visually confusing
Show threadhairylarryMar 12

@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez

This is weird. And cool.

Show threadKeesjanMar 12
@OscarCunningham @johncarlosbaez
And I thougt this symbol represented a singularity 😁