Monday, January 14, 2013

Eight- and nine-letter words in base-26 pi: II

The 32 eight- and nine-letter words from Peter Norvig's Google word-count file that were found in half a billion letters of the base-26 π-code representation of the real digits of π have now been supplemented by finds from larger data sets (not restricted by Norvig's at-least-100000-mentions cutoff criterion).

Specifically, my search resulted in an additional 55 eight-letter and 9 nine-letter hits. Of the eight-letter finds, I decided to reject goyetian, rosaruby, avanious, fleyland, commoney, scambler, and tortuose. I immediately recognized the nine-letter beakerman as a word I had come across in December 2003 (at the time, I had saved a picture of muppet Beaker and had given it that name) but I have no corresponding Mathematica notebook to document the find and have only a vague recollection of extending my year-2000 calculation. At any rate, I had struggled back then with recognizing beakerman as a legitimate word and I did so again now. (I have kept it.) So, 32+55-7+9 = 89 words:

  3095146  Armagnac
  5204508  reformist
  5446573  fabledom
 12767754  pediatry
 23893131  keratoma
 26460749  plastics
 30620629  Batavian
 34355657  sailorly
 38729316  hatbrush
 46803099  Gemmingia
 49292523  raisonné
 52221111  beakerman
 52374041  infandous
 62288036  Altamont
 68386037  handsome
 77174448  piquance
 80344659  spraints
 85983887  ticktock
 95489940  freewill
104799581  glassful
119398927  obligate
122636295  derriere
144023162  tarragon
145410250  Pannonic
148864411  aphicide
160285943  conveyer
168667826  hockshin
179537813  caraboid
186970055  lineages
194941942  symbolic
203750087  drawling
204682494  subreguli
213927339  aquiform
220130527  pajamaed
223387624  blurbist
227698058  Gederite
232625291  moromancy
233706360  Brockway
238312955  homicide
241593178  aularian
244832756  coenzyme
245790734  clinamen
248977229  offenses
253217633  somewise
258077020  masslike
265316858  draftily
270498733  puncheon
290930240  friction
291953969  Judentum
296560665  torpidity
298503676  eddyroot
308820127  engaging
309864510  octapody
310692296  Alabaman
317941229  outgrown
324802306  dartlike
326873656  hayfield
327954809  jamboree
330311394  grubbily
331195875  monodont
334661344  venially
339119974  panderly
341079873  magneton
358147952  benzamide
362326813  autopsic
378333440  bookings
379470966  assenter
400726498  cardanic
414326761  immotive
426642188  slubbery
428186515  noblesse
433412589  inertial
440674037  ephebeum
442091394  unkilled
443277601  bioplasm
444201817  Crataeva
452027527  driftlet
454659011  pineland
460082749  loathness
467631243  prickish
468685858  pyroboric
475910828  Mersenne
476984745  stigmatic
479595795  Vallarta
480168788  sunblink
483460192  atmiatry
487934346  copyists
488079020  Assyrian
499784890  southron

A ten-letter word is not found in this range — unless we are willing to allow backwords:

..rlivetumsnwlieeqremonobonseetacejbfepewqxd..

At index 115577805 is the string remonobons, which is snobonomer in reverse. William Makepeace Thackeray used this word in his satirical writing: "Some telescopic philosopher will arise one day, some great Snobonomer, to find the laws of the great science which we are now merely playing with, and to define, and settle, and classify that which is at present but vague theory, and loose, though elegant assertion."

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