Original Version of Annie:
Orphan #1: "We found found Fifth Avenue! Number one Fifth Avenue!"
Orphan #2: "We gotta go to 987"

New Version of Annie:
Orphan #1: "We found found Fifth Avenue! 1/987 Fifth Avenue!"
Orphan #2: "Bugger."
-- my face your, Jun 18 2003

non-integer page numbers http://www.halfbake...er_20page_20numbers
by ry4an. Very similar. [my face your, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Huh?
-- DrCurry, Jun 18 2003


So is the fraction in the example '1 out of 987 houses'?

If so then you need to know how many houses there are in the street. That'd mean a nightmare trying to find the house of [my face your], what with all those gypsies moving in and out.
-- Jinbish, Jun 18 2003


My house is number 34, the highest in the road, but there's no 2, 4, 31 or 33. 1 & 3 are the same building, and there's a 5A and a 15A, plus the railway museum. Bluff your way out of *that* one.
-- angel, Jun 18 2003


[Z]: Not you, [he's off his nut].
-- Jinbish, Jun 18 2003


Um. So if you're numbering every building with both its number and the total number of buildings, everyone on the street will have to renumber their house when a new one is built.

Btw, Annie did not do her research. In NYC, buildings are numbered regularly by city block, so it is easy to calculate what cross street a particular number is near (and many maps provide guides).

Also, not every number exists (many buildings take up multiple lots), so you would get bizarre results, like Annie needing to find 987/345 Fifth. To help out future orphans, like other American cities, NYC has started putting street number ranges on the street signs in heavily touristed areas.

Then again, all too many office buildings are given addresses all of their own, even when they're on a major avenue. So Annie would now be looking for One Warbucks Plaza, and not have a hope.

And I still remember when we got a country house here, we went to the post office to ask what our house number was. They asked us what number we would like. It emerged that the houses in the area were numbered completely randomly and more than a few had no number at all.
-- DrCurry, Jun 18 2003


//So if you're numbering every building with both its number and the total number of buildings, everyone on the street will have to renumber their house when a new one is built.//
Not at all. Compound vulgar fractional notation can be used to accommodate new buildings (aside: are most new buildings in NYC and other cities not merely built on brownfield sites, rather than green?) and abberations such as (221 (2/2))/438) Baker Street. This would also allow future tourists to gain a better understanding of the growth of a city. And it would get it right up postmen, which is always nice.
Plus, think of the boost to the economy brought about by the increase in sales of brass numbers and rawlplugs.

Incidentally, I haven't touched drugs in months. Apologies for lack of clarity in idea body. Must be sunstroke.
-- my face your, Jun 18 2003


I prefer [DrCurry]'s rural example. I'll have pi please.
-- PeterSilly, Jun 18 2003


Obligatory 69 Post
-- thumbwax, Jun 18 2003



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