38 stargates magic number

[Jonzey]

My washing machine takes 38 minutes for a cycle. Maybe they use the same type on Stargate.

[user_4574]

McKay himself states that 38 minutes is the maximum time a wormhole can be maintained under non-reletiveistic conditions.

Whats likely is, that two scenarios are most probable....

• When the power being supplied to the gate is exceeded by a much greater power source at its destination (P3W-451) & (Redemption weapon probably had a ton of the stuff, and kept the wormhole open because "energy" was being sent through.
• Time-space distortions occur (again...P3W-451). Whats likely in this scenario is that the gate will still only stay active for 38 minutes (unless given more power...I am refering to ONLY time distortion here)...but from the perspective of the viewer, this time is greatly increased.

[Fonzavitch]

38 in base 10 would be written as "46" in base 8. No "38" exists in base 8.

What are you talking about?
38 in base 10 is =1.5797
by doing Log 38. since log on the calcualter is base 10. So what ever number you got is wierd, tell me how you derived it. and also in further detail explain what u said piece by piece

[Nordban]

um, what you just solved was what power you would have to raise 10 to to get 38, that's not that same thing

38 in base 10 is 38

46 in base 8 equals 4*8+6*1=38 in base 10

oh and I understand now why Zilla said 38 wasn't in base 8
there isn't a symbol for '8' in base 8 math, because when you reach that value you just add one to the next place value (the same reason we don't have a digit that represents 10 in base ten math)

[knightofgorham]

There was also the weapon the Anubis used in Redemption.

as well as the season 4 episode Watergate

it would be interesting to see if the writers purposely use the number 38 like that.....do they do it based on some scientific fact or is it like the wizard of oz references? i would also be interested in finding out if the number 38 (assuming its not based on some scientific fact) means something or was an arbitrary number

[Avenger]

What are you talking about?
38 in base 10 is =1.5797
by doing Log 38. since log on the calcualter is base 10. So what ever number you got is wierd, tell me how you derived it. and also in further detail explain what u said piece by piece

Base 10 means you count from 1-10, 11-20, etc. You count ten digits before adding the first one to represent the first ten digits

Base 8 would be 1-7, 11-17, 21-27. Base eight works the same way, but the first one in "11" represents 8 digits instead of 10.

[6thMonolith]

Base 10 means you count from 1-10, 11-20, etc. You count ten digits before adding the first one to represent the first ten digits

Base 8 would be 1-7, 11-17, 21-27. Base eight works the same way, but the first one in "11" represents 8 digits instead of 10.

Um, wouldnt it be in base 10 you cound 1-9, then 10-19, then 20-29, etc? and in base eight 1-7, 10-17, 20-27, etc? I did a lot of google searching about this, for my post in the Brotherhood thread, and it still confuses me a little. Doesnt base eight just not have the symbol for 8-9?

[Nordban]

yes 6th, you're right.

[Calicto]

What are you talking about?
38 in base 10 is =1.5797
by doing Log 38. since log on the calcualter is base 10. So what ever number you got is wierd, tell me how you derived it. and also in further detail explain what u said piece by piece

*dies laughing* hahahaha... such arrogance....

well anyways, i knew my math team skills would come into use.

When you have something to the Base X, you represent a value at each digit. The come to the desired value, you add the digits after accentuating digits. A digit cannot be greater than or equal to X.

A three digit number __ __ __ in base X would be something like this (aX^2) (bX^1) (cX^0). Variables a, b & c are the coefficients of this number while each parenthesis set represents a digit.

I realize that this is very confusing, here are some examples:

3423 Base 5 to ? Base 10:

This would mean, the first digit (the most right digit) would be multiplied by 5^0 or 1. The entire thing in Base 10 would be:

(3 x 5^3) + (4 x 5^2) + (2 x 5^1) + (3 x 5^0) = 375 + 100 + 10 + 3 = 488

315 Base 10 to ? Base 7:

Now, this is harder. The best way to do this is to list the exponentials of 7 until you reach a number higher than your desired base 10.

7^0 = 1, 7^1 = 7, 7^2=49, 7^3= 343

Because 343 is greater than 315, we know that this number will only be 3 digit long. Remember, a digit cannot be greater than 7 (or it can be carried over to the next place.)

315 / 49 = 6.4, 6 x 49 = 294, 315 - 294 = 21

Therefore, 49 can go into 315, 6 times with a remainder of 21.

__ __ __ becomes 6 __ __

Next, take 21 and divide it by 7. We get an even 3 times. Therefore:

6 __ __ becomes 6 3 0 = 630



I sincerely hope that helps anyone comprehend Bases (which are most definitely not logs)

The Ancients apparently used a BASE 38 (apparently in Fifth Race, where O'Neill goes super smart with Ancient knowledge), NOT BASE 8.

[Nordban]

This is a section of Carter's of dialogue from The Fifth Race
(did the best I could getting the correct emphasis from DVD)

Sir, I really wish you could explain this.
<Carter gestures to chalkboard>
<O'neill hands carter pad>
Ten equals eight?
<Carter walks to chalkboard>
Ten equals eight...
Ten equasl eight...
<Carter writes on chalkboard>
Ten equals eight!
Sir, this is base eight math.

I feel this is pretty conclusive evidence that the Ancients number system was base 8. And if you look at the chalkboard in the scene there aren't any digits above 7 (something Sam probably would have noticed had she looked at it longer). Additionally think of how difficult it would be to remember 38 different digit symbols. Though I believe one of the ancient civilzations on Earth had a base 60 system execpt it used some strange hashmark scheme. It has been a long time since middle school history so I can't remember much more.

Despite this I feel that the number 38 at least has significance to the writers, if not the Ancients, judging by how often it comes up.

[Wandering Tamer]

What if the calculations were just base eight and not the rest of the ancient math? I mean, our math uses different numbers for different things depending on what we're doing. Don't even get me started on the math for string theory.

[iLemon]

We know the Ancients use base 8 math (as seen in The Fifth Race) while we use base 10.

We use base 8 in binary and hex codes

[iLemon]

...I think