Post #731778

2026-03-11 08:38 UTC

It looks like the ⍼ saga has finally ended! The unicode character &#39;⍼&#39; was a mystery first noticed in 2022: https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html. It&#39;s in the Unicode standard as a mathematical symbol. But no one could find any examples of it having been used, and no one knew what it represented. It was like the only record of an extinct species, fossilized in the Unicode standard. But now someone has found the document it originally came from! It represents the angle &#39;Azimuth&#39;, and the symbol probably comes from the path light takes through a sextant. https://ionathan.ch/2026/02/16/angzarr.html (@johncarlosbaez might appreciate this symbol!)

Replies (16)

@chrisamaphone@hci.social 2026-03-11 12:30

@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz @OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz thank you @ionchy@types.pl :)

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@KolaMagpie@this.mouse.rocks 2026-03-11 13:31

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz I'll have to check my sextant's manual to see if it's in there!

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@olasd@mastodon.opportunis.me 2026-03-11 13:49

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz this one is for @th@social.v.st!

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@TeflonTrout@beige.party 2026-03-11 14:02

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz What the fuck? Why is THIS the thing that fixed me

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@uriel@x.keinpfusch.net 2026-03-11 14:29

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz Il seems to me Beth. In cantor transfinite theory, that is together with Aleph.

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@simagick@freeradical.zone 2026-03-11 14:46

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz Oh that's really neat. It looks very much like the Linking Sigil "Ellis", used in some modern spiritual/magical practices.

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@pianosaurus@c.im 2026-03-11 15:04

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz Sorry, but this is absolutely not solved. The source listed is a register of symbols, not natural usage. Where did _they_ get it from in 1950? How is it better that it showed up magically there, instead of in unicode directly?

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@cs@mastodon.sdf.org 2026-03-11 16:50

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz Makes me wonder if there's a group of people out there nodding their heads say, "Yeah, I'm so glad that's included-- I use it all the time. Of course, the average person would only use it every couple of years or so." https://xkcd.com/2501/

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@crazypedia@masto.hackers.town 2026-03-11 18:33

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz cool! I stuck it in my username when I learned about it and now I'm keeping itn!

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@peterrenshaw@ioc.exchange 2026-03-11 20:58

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz I can see what the symbol represents; The representation is poorly executed. At low resolution that zigzag disappears into the three axis.

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@grillaum@piaille.fr 2026-03-11 22:02

@MoritzBrouhaha@typo.social

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@bituur_esztreym@pouet.chapril.org 2026-03-11 22:56

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz fascinating story! thanks! i like it very much & use it a lot in my crashtxts, as in: ⥿╲ᅞᅞ̶̷̸ ̶̶͟ ̶̶̲ ͢͢͢ᵝͨͪɥµ͍͍͍͍͍͍͍͉͉͉͉͉͉͢͢͢͠ᅞᅞ┍ٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖٖ ་༛٫༚◦ ҉྄྄྄྄ ྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄ྉ̅ ̅ ̅̊̇ͫͭͯᵎ̢̢͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚͚ͥͥͥͥͥͥ ⁸͜͟▁▁▁ ूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूूू̷̸̶͞८↣ ▻᠊ूू᠊᠆ ूु᠆᠆᠆ᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞ∿ུུུུུ̎⃣ᵄͣͣͣ➢ ⿱้้้ ํํํํํᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞ࿁ ᅞᅞ࿀ީ˜ᔈᔈ﹆ヾヽީ、、　༎כ⇁ 💭:ﮱ⍼ணணᅞᅞ➛ or: ̅̄̄̄̄̄ ̅༶ེེེེེེེེེེེ≣≡ٖٖٖ⚌⚌⚌ᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞᅞ▘ ▖ ◄⃣◸༿̅̅༾░▂▁ ▁྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄྄▗ᅞ▝ ⬊⥦⍼Ҩᓇ؎؎؎҂ᅞ⸻๋๋๋๋๋⤇ᓐᓪᔈֻֻ᷂⁾ ﹆🌢🌢̷̸̶🌢Ꙅͯͯͯ.ͯͯͯͯͯɀᵅּּּूूूᔥ༎̶༎̶̥̥̥̅̊̊̊̊̊͞ Ⴠߞ ⛀ʦԅªم ⸺ ⌜⌋́́́̓̓̓̓̓ɻ┥◂∿̨╭⃜╮╭┗⎛⧹̓̓̓◟⦦∵̈̈་̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈̈㉠↳༝ٖٖٖू ᅞ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

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@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz 2026-03-12 05:46

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz - Hey, I should figure out a way to use this! Thanks!

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@TomL@mathstodon.xyz 2026-03-12 07:59

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz that is a mad unicode symbol, totally visually confusing

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@hairylarry@gamerplus.org 2026-03-12 14:15

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz This is weird. And cool.

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@keesjanb@mastodon.vlaanderen 2026-03-12 22:04

@OscarCunningham@mathstodon.xyz @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz And I thougt this symbol represented a singularity 😁

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