Is there a more complicated definition of a flag? Seriously New Zealand? You needed to bring square roots into this?
@LilahTovMoon I bet this would make Dan Brown salivate and start writing a treasure hunting novel set in New Zealand.
Huh. Wait, they have differing star sizes on the flag?
...why? xD I assume the size of a *five-pointed stylised star* is not at a premium for astronomic accuracy.
@LilahTovMoon I have to assume Australia's is more complicated because it's the same as New Zealand but with more stars
@LilahTovMoon I don't know about *more* complicated, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Nepal#/media/File:Nepal_Flag_Construction.png
This is the best argument I've seen for not changing the NZ flag to something else.
@LilahTovMoon They have done the sums for you, and given the answer to 8dp, which is accurate enough to size the stars to within 2mm on a flag the size of the whole country.
Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑@LilahTovMoon "Three thick stripes" seems like a good idea at times.
Tho I must say, speaking of flags, that when it comes to hardcore flags, Albania will always win: Black double headed spread eagle on a blood red background. It's some Evil Overlord stuff right there...
@LilahTovMoon looking at the definitions of the sizes of the red stars (5, 6 and 7) and their white border (½), it seems to me that A, B and C can be derived from those and are not axiomatic to the flag's definition.
I'm sure you'd end up with some square roots in the measures of those Union Jack diagonals too.
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@LilahTovMoon where the hell does that sqrt(5) term come from? It must be some simplified trigonometric term right?
@LilahTovMoon At least it isn't like the USA which allows pretty much anything
@LilahTovMoon well, to be fair, the DIN paper formats are also based on the square root ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@LilahTovMoon HELL YEHA HELL YEAH HELL YEAH CONSTRUCTIBLE RADICALS
Also, the stars at least have whole number dimensions for some of their parts that should make them easier to construct. The radicals just come from the borders that surround them and define the diameters of the circles that circumscribe them.
@LilahTovMoon let's have the Southern Cross on our flag, they said. It's going to look cool, they said.
@LilahTovMoon That's a depth of nerdery I never thought possible, vexillology and high level maths combined.
@LilahTovMoon im glad the math person they hired to do this was having fun
@LilahTovMoon I've got a Tumblr thread somewhere where I rant about the Brazilian flag. It's really complicated!
@LilahTovMoon Tbh as long as it has something Union Jackish top left, a recognizable Southern Cross on the right, and - crucially - no big white star bottom left, we'll take it.
We aren't that attached to our flag. We even considered getting rid of it some years ago:
https://deborah.makarios.nz/2015/09/18/of-flags-fire-and-our-piratical-destiny/
@LilahTovMoon It's not a flag, but the pepsi design doc (https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell-021109.pdf) is insane in multiple ways
@LilahTovMoon It’s not really vexillology unless it’s vexing.
@LilahTovMoon That's the point: It's not necessary, but purely a simplification. You can fully construct those stars from the "6" and the "½" (and their symmetries) alone. It's just a lot easier when you know those seemingly complicated values, which are just calculated from the old-school construction (that's also how the square roots come in).
@LilahTovMoon I've been doing too much CAD lately. First thing that came to mind was: "Well, now, this looks a bit overconstrained".
@rupert Yea, but not accurate enough if I want to create a New Zealand flag the size of the sun ☀️ 😆
@LilahTovMoon Disappointed it doesn't include pi and sin tbh.
@LilahTovMoon @danielle It's width is an irrational number. It's literally impossible to physically create it.
@nicole Nah, Australian is way less complicated. They just specify things as fractions and the four main stars of the Southern Cross are all the same size.
@LilahTovMoon fair enough! I guess irrational numbers are the only way NZ could make their flag stand out
@LilahTovMoon @oddtail flag rant: the stars on the Australian flag are often done incorrectly because people assume you can draw them like a pentagram (ie like the NZ flag). Even sites like Britannica get it wrong (https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Australia) smh
my guess: it's the border around the New Zealand stars that forces the square roots into being. Australia doesn't have a border around its stars.
a few other examples:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Morocco#/media/File:Flag_of_Morocco_(construction_sheet).svg
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Nepal#/media/File:Nepal_Flag_Construction.png