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User:Johnys2/Fruit Algebra

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Fruit algebra is a unconventional, symbolic mathematical language invented a by a group of Summer Students at CERN in 2010. It follows the rules of the classic Algebra but substitutes the numbers and the operators with fruits.

It was originally created for fun, but it became quite popular and even acquired its own LaTeX extensions [1] and decoding utility [2].

Introduction

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In fruit algebra the numbers and operators of the classical algebra are just replaced by fruits. The rest of the algebraic rules are the same. Additionally, unless explicitly defined otherwise, the default operator between fruits is multiplication.

Here is a simple example of a fruit algebra expression:

melon apple lemon melon

This translates to: 5 (melon) - (apple) 3 (lemon) * (default operator) 5 (melon) = -10

Language Reference

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The following are the symbols used in fruit algebra and their equivalent values:

Numbers and operators

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Fruit algebra does not import the full set of numbers from classical algebra. That's because it was designed to be mind challenging. However that doesn't restrict it's functionality since most of the numbers can still be easily derived through multiplication. For example 9 is "lemon lemon", 4 is "tomato watermelon" etc.

Exception on the fruit rule is the number 22 which is represented by a Diamond. That's because of it's high value (compared to the rest of the fruits)

Here is a short list with all the defined numbers and operators

Numbers Operators
Symbol Name Classic Algebra Equivalent Symbol Name Classic Algebra Equivalent
Lemon 3 Apple - (Minus)
Melon 5 Peeled Banana (
Tomato 8 Unpeeled Banana )
Diamond 22
Watermelon 0.5

Constants and advanced calculus

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The following table contains some predefined constants and some suggested symbols for more elaborate operations.

Symbol Name Classic Algebra Equivalent
Pie π
Branch Power
Root Square Root

Division

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The division in fruit algebra is a bit different than the rest of the rules. There is no divide operator, but rather a inverse operator. So the only way to perform division is to multiply a value with the other value's inverse.

To invert a value in fruit algebra you use the -th suffix. For example, if you want to invert a melon, you write: melonth (= 1/5).

As a symbol, inversion can be represented with the greek symbol Theta.

Symbol Name Classic Algebra Equivalent
θ -th 1/x

See also

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  1. ^ FruitTex - Fruit Algebra additions for LaTeX: http://code.google.com/p/fruitex/
  2. ^ Defruitizer - A Bookmarklet to decode fruit algebra quotes websites: http://defruitizer.wavesoft.gr/