Alien Arithmetic: An Experiment
As part of the Voyager and SETI projects, the people of earth have sent and beamed what we hope are comprehensible messages to whatever might be out there. It is assumed that any civilization that can find or detect these artifacts is probably intelligent enough to interpret them. To make it easy for the aliens, we have sent out some of the information in the "universal" language of mathematics.
These events led me to ask how easy it would be for humans to decipher alien arithmetic, and to try an experiment to find out. If we cannot, this experiment should cast doubts on whether we can expect to be able to understand messages from extraterrestrial civilizations, even if they are just simple arithmetic.
Below are some examples of simple "alien" arithmetic. By some unexplained means, you know that the inscription represents a set of mostly or entirely correct numerical equations. In earth's mathematical notation, they might be 3+4 = 7; (12+6)/2 = 3 * 3; 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 - 6 = 5 and so forth. You also know that each symbol invariably stands for a particular lexical item. The symbol "v" might be a certain digit, an equal sign, a delimiter such as a space or parenthesis, or a simple arithmetic operator such as +, -, * or /. There is no guarantee, of course, that alien operators correspond to our forms of operators or that the syntax to be the familiar. In this example there are no variables, no algebraic expressions, no exponents; nothing beyond arithmetic that can be done on a four-function calculator.
You have an enviable head start over what a scientist confronting a real alien message would know. Here's what was received; what does it say?
qv7qrc77qrrx777qrrrs7777qrrrrg77777qrrrrrbv7bqrbckbqqbvkbqrgkbqhskbqpckbqbqvmr
rcmhhgmjjbgmppyctbqbivayrpga7bbhjbqbxmawhhbqawwqx777kbqbrjhrbvaprkatrkhrca
aamwhmwhwhwhwhwhrapkqrmpkqc7bhbhwgawiiqwiqbv
(Thanks to Paul Guertin for his help.)
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