I need some help with a strange cryptic message.Please!

Hi,

Even though my user stats show me as completely new I've actually been a
member for a few years under the username 'Ezekial' which is giving me
strife (cannot recover old password).

Anyhow onto the topic of my return to this great website (I've been away for
quite a while for work).

At work today this rather bizarre old guy came into the customer service
section of our electronics repair lab and after buying a few bits and
pieces (it was his second time in the shop for the day).

No offensive to French people but I couldn't understand his very think
accent but he rambled on asking how many staff we have and a few other
questions which I answered, to which he gave me 3 cards with the same
cryptic message on them (attached links).

Front side

Back side



Now I believe I have seen these before but where from I have no idea.
My ideas/sandbox theories on symbols and their meaning.
The text on the front of the card was a little hard to read so I went over
it with a pen and it reads:

PM DIXIT (or) DIXTT ET AL E TU

Some of which sounds like french;

"et al" which translates to the english "et al." = "and others"

"tu" translates to "you"

I cannot find anything for DIXIT/DIXTT.

PM I guess is = Post-Meridiem
____________________________

In the top left corner is what looks to be a hand written 'y' - I checked
this under a microscope and there is a depression in the paper and it
embosses onto the other side. Or could it be a badly drawn 'gamma'?
if gamma is this pointing out that the card is a gamma function similar to a zeta function?

γ represents:

* the lower incomplete gamma function
* the third angle in a triangle, opposite the side C
* the Euler-Mascheroni constant in mathematics.
* second-order sensitivity to price in mathematical finance
* the Lorentz factor in special relativity

- en.wikipedia.org...

The top half of the front seems to be an equation after the lightglobe
(idea/bright?)

Inside the square is the symbol lowercase epsilon:

ε represents:
* a small positive quantity; see limit
* a random error in regression analysis
* in set theory, the limit ordinal of the sequence\omega,\omega^[\omega],\omega^[\omega^[\omega]],\dots.
* in computer science, the empty string.
* the Levi-Civita symbol. * in electromagnetics, dielectric permittivity.
* emissivity
* strain
* set membership symbol ∈ is based on ε

- en.wikipedia.org...

The formula consists of (and these are my theories):

FRONT SIDE

u = "you (me in this context?)"

= = "is equal to"

[] = "set brackets" [a,b,c] means the set consisting of a, b, and c

= Lower case alpha

α represents:
* the first angle in a triangle, opposite the side A.
* one root of a quadratic equation, where β represents the other
* the statistical significance of a result
* the false positive rate in statistics
* the reciprocal of the sacrifice ratio
* the fine structure constant in physics
* the angle of attack of an airplane
* an alpha particle (He+2)
* angular acceleration in physics
* the linear thermal expansion coefficient

- en.wikipedia.org...

: = "inner product of" but these are usually done with '?,?' or (|), ':' is used in matricies.

± = "plus-minus" however again two contexts; both '1+1 and 1-1' AND 10 ± 2
or eqivalently 10 ± 20% means the range from 10 − 2 to 10 + 2 (does the fact its superscripted mean anything?

More next post

[edit on 5-6-2007 by Zeeko]

Going from where I started in last post (4000 character limit - NEVER thought I would break THAT!)
_____________________________________

+ = "addition" naturally, or does it mean a disjoint union?

= "therefore"

After the equation I think we are supposed to either have an answer that is
equal to 'RAN' (unknown at this time) or not, if not then we are forwarded
to 'PTO' (please turn over) for more information on the rear of the card...

BACK

Cube = "Cubed/cubic"

Left pointing arrow = "not sure, I know a RIGHT facing arrow is a 'material implication' (implies; if...then)" purhaps THEN-IF?

Big Red 5 on black = "Big Red 5 on black"? (being creative with WordArt?)

Big Green Plus sign = "More fun with WordArt"?


Now this is getting VERY confusing as there are different types of math being used here (Heyting algebra,linear algebra, basic set theory, arithmetic, measurement and maybe calculus) as well as some french and words I cannot find on the internet (purhaps DIXIT/DIXTT is latin?)

Reading the text backwards comes up with
UT E LA TE TIXID/TTXID MP - that makes no sense either.

This is really frustrating me and my staff and consumed most of my evening trying to relearn this kind of mathematics.


PS If this is in teh wrong section please notify me and move to relevant area (I swore there was a cryptography area here years ago?)
[edit on 5-6-2007 by Zeeko]

[edit on 5-6-2007 by Zeeko]

Well, this is a most interesting puzzle, and I have to get kids ready for school, etc., so I won't have lots of time to help with this -- I love cryptography.

However, "dixit" is a Latin word, usually used in our time as part of the phrase "ipse dixit" which means:

An unsupported assertion, usually by a person of standing; a dictum.

[From Latin ipse dimacr.gifxit, he himself said (it) : ipse, he himself + dimacr.gifxit, third person sing. perfect tense of dimacr.gifcere, to say.]

www.yourdictionary.com...

So it seems somebody or other (PM) is saying to others and to you something ...

There is a PM Dixit, professor of Mechanical Engineering in Kanpur, India:

home.iitk.ac.in...

Thanks for your insight MajorMalfunction!!

This is beginning to make a kind of sense, The old guy in question did say his name at the end when he was halfway out of the store in a very odd way. Example "...for I am....!!!" as if he was someone important. Dam shoulda listened to that - purhaps it was Pierre M. or something

He was quite arrogant aswell claiming the way I was talking to customers was (and quote)

"..akin to french slang for calling someone an F-Wit...".

Now this is really bizarre as I was HELPING a client with some remote control devices by calibrating them - not being condescending at all. Heck we don't even charge for labour on things like that...

Now if any of that is relevant (as he said those comments after giving me the cards) I will do my head in.

MajorMalfunction - I would love further input from you when possible and to anyone out htere familiar with mathematics of this level.

PS: I thought maybe the given algebraic symbols and my workplace were linked somehow but at the level our electronics are we don't have anything to do with gamma rays, and can't think of anything using epsilon or alpha except alpha waves...

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
There is a PM Dixit, professor of Mechanical Engineering in Kanpur, India:

home.iitk.ac.in...

Nice Find, very interesting. It definitely isn't the guy in the store but some of what PM Dixit studies (mathematical modeling) could help with solving the problem.

I also found the latin

PM dixit et al e tu

=

Post mortem said others and you

en.wikipedia.org...

Thanks for that - perhaps its a sign that he wants something after I die?? (remember I DID say he was weird)

Na, I would propose that in this context the word post mortem means "review", or examination of the subject after the conclusion, or final analysis. Not death.

Example:

A slang term meaning the analysis of a game after it has been completed.

www.google.com...

It seems to me that the card is trying to indicate that you and others, (the general consensus of the world), have come to a conclusion involving the math equation on the card, but that his examination reveals that the general consensus is incorrect. The card is trying to explain why the accepted conclusion of the equasion is actually incorrect.

Just a guess.


[edit on 6/5/07 by makeitso]

dixit isnt the word for said or say, 'dit' or 'parle' or 'dire' (dit is the conjugated verb of dire)

Repeat: Dixit is Latin for "to say" not french. Dixit is not a french word.

Dixit is also a name in Farsi.

[edit] I'm going to take a chance and email the link to this thread to Professor Dixit and ask if he has anything to do with this. Easier to go to a possible source than go through endless speculation ...


[edit on 5-6-2007 by MajorMalfunction]

Darlando could be right, I was quoting Wiki, and it could be wrong.

dixit = "said" .....Used to attribute a statement or opinion to its author, rather than the speaker.

Alphabetical list of latin to english translations

Ah, I see MM caught that Darlando was talking about the French, not Latin.



[edit on 6/5/07 by makeitso]

This is going great people, you have been very helpful.

Can anyone shed any light on the equation itself?

DIXIT (used alot in spoken french) is a synonyme for "said" like : I am small, said weeman. I will take this tonight to my girlfriends dad who loves working things like this out (and he is french) who knows he might have already come across this one.

EDIT : posted a bit late

[edit on 5-6-2007 by WeSbO]

[edit on 5-6-2007 by WeSbO]

PM is also a shorter way of saying Particulate Matter, in another words small particles : en.wikipedia.org...

At a guess, perhaps the card means:

Everyone concludes that the power of light or electricity can be measured using the math formula e-squared, via U=(A:A- =5+) but that is incorrect

other side of card:

Because 5+ is actually cubed, not squared.


Math and electricity is not my forte, so I really am just guessing and probably confusing the issue further. I'll shut up now.

The French is derived from the Latin, and the way the phrase is written appears, at least to me, to be Latin wholly:

PM Dixit (we've already established)

et al is Latin

If the final part was French, it would be "et tu" but in Latin it is "e tu"

Just my gut feeling on this, but I think it's a Latin phrase, not French, it is very similar to French, however.

AS its now approaching 1am here in Oz I must bd farewell til tomorrow. I have a few people checking this card out (I was given three - all exactly the same except the little N/Y boxes were ticked and crossed diferently)

I have an engineer and a maths guru on the case on my end.

ANY external help you have would be of great value to me.

G'nite!

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
The French is derived from the Latin, and the way the phrase is written appears, at least to me, to be Latin wholly:

PM Dixit (we've already established)

et al is Latin

If the final part was French, it would be "et tu" but in Latin it is "e tu"

Just my gut feeling on this, but I think it's a Latin phrase, not French, it is very similar to French, however.

Yes the sentence is not french (I speak french fluently) the only two french words in the phrase are "et" and "tu" and that has already been mentioned above, So it probably is latin (looks very latin anyway). Or it might not be a phrase, something that may sound stupid, but could it have anything to do with the periodic table of elements ? (don't know enough about all that)

Maybe he's a French performance artist who likes the graphic features of formal notation.