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SCP-𝕐 — Cannibalistic Mathematics

by Sam Swicegood (CityToast), from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5789. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

⚠ SCP-𝕐 is registered as a Class F Infohazard.
Proceed with Caution.
Attempts to access this file from any system not
compatible with Numsafe RGU-𝕐 protocol will be
automatically rejected and logged.

Item #: SCP-𝕐 (Formerly SCP-⬜⬜⬜⬜)

Object class: Euclid

Secure Containment Procedures

No numerals, ordinals, or other words indicative of a singular, finite value may be used in any documentation related to this anomaly. SCP-𝕐 is not to be assigned any numerical metrics, even for cataloguing purposes, including Disruption and Risk Classes. This also includes the standard numerical classification, which has been replaced with the Unicode character described as “Blackboard Bold Uppercase Y” (𝕐).

Information about this anomaly must be stored inside a virtual software box built to utilize a non-numerical coding system and rendering engine specifically built for this purpose, known as the RGU-𝕐 system. This system is to be installed at Foundation Infohazard Containment Site-♃, which specializes in containment via alternative-text and non-textual methods.

The knowledge of the nonexistence SCP-𝕐-A is to be monitored in the general population. Individuals who discover the nonexistence of SCP-𝕐-A must be treated with amnestics. The use of memetic textual deterrents (“mipsum”) may be utilized to hide discovered discrepancies.

Within the period approximately equal to a full rotation of the Earth, The RGU-𝕐 system must be activated, which will generate a random number of sufficiently large value as to be statistically improbable that this number will be utilized for any purpose by humans in the foreseeable future. This number will then be added to the end of this containment file.

If several days pass without being “fed”, SCP-𝕐 consumes a number at random, resulting in potential catastrophic consequences for financial, computing, and other mathematics-derivative fields of science.

In effect, the processes protecting this containment file are the same processes containing SCP-𝕐.

Description

SCP-𝕐 is a finite mathematical set of numbers. The most accurate definition of SCP-𝕐 can roughly be defined as “All numbers which do not exist.”

SCP-𝕐’s existence is intrinsically tied to baseline reality. The anomalous effect of RGU-𝕐 manifests when numbers of any value are associated with it. When a number is exposed to SCP-𝕐, the number is added to the set in question, causing it to cease existing. A number which ceases to exist is unable to be processed, displayed, or even conceptualized. This missing number can easily be overlooked as the human consciousness will often fill in the missing data involuntarily. Discovery of the absent number will, however, induce some manner of mental strain and should be avoided if possible.

SCP-𝕐’s relationship to other anomalies is under investigation.

The effect of exposure to SCP-𝕐 appears to have some limitations, as discovered through informal and formal testing:

When a number is given a non-numerical symbol to represent it, such as g, SCP-𝕐 will still affect the underlying value, but the symbol itself will remain unaffected.
SCP-𝕐 affects only the full number, not its individual digits. For example, if a several-digit number ABCD were to be affected by SCP-𝕐, only ABCD would cease to exist; the digits A, B, C, and D would not.

Addendum: Origin

SCP-𝕐 was initially theorized by famous mathematician ███████ ███ in the same year the Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia. In a mathematics essay distributed among the Mathematics department of the University of Calgary, Dr. ███ theorized the following:

The universe abides by rules, which are represented by the laws of physics and calculated by mathematics. There is a set of every countable thing: the number of atoms in the Empire State Building, the period between each crash of waves on the shore. If there are infinite numbers of these countable sets of things which exist, then it serves to reason there is a countable set which contains things which do not.

As of yet, it has not been determined whether this theory, or Dr. ███’s work afterward, induced the subsequent manifestation of SCP-𝕐, but operatives in the University later uncovered the anomalous set and its effects, and developed protocols to contain it.

Note

During containment, a very small amount of numbers were affected by SCP-𝕐. The total amount is unknown. See section titled “SCP-𝕐-A”.

Testing Log

Testing process consisted of the following:

Querying the RGU-𝕐 system for a number consisting of an enormous amount of digits, the practical use of which is astronomically unlikely to exist at any point in the future
Adding or subtracting variables to this number to give it certain attributes, such as being a fraction, decimal, or have certain divisors
Designating this new number as a lowercase alpha character, usually g
Allowing the RGU-𝕐 system to simultaneously place it into an offsite text file as well as appending (“feeding”) it to the metadata of the SCP-𝕐 containment file
Querying the offsite file to check for data loss indicative of being affected by SCP-𝕐

Initial Log

Loading testing logs...

INPUT: g is an unmodified number. g is fed to SCP-𝕐.
RESULT: Full data loss detected: g ceases to exist.
RESEARCHER NOTE: Baseline result.

Subsequent Log

INPUT: All the digits of a certain number, gg, followed immediately by the digits of another number, hh, are concentrated into a combined number, gghh. gghh is fed to SCP-𝕐. The smaller numbers are not fed to SCP-𝕐.

RESULT: Partial data loss detected: gghh ceases to exist. gg and hh are unaffected.

RESEARCHER NOTE: It’s safe to assume that constituent digits are not impacted. That’s a relief.

Subsequent Log

INPUT: g turned into an ordinal number by appending “th” to the end of it. g_o is fed to SCP-𝕐.

RESULT: Full data loss detected: g ceases to exist.

RESEARCHER NOTE: It appears the result is tied to the value, rather than cardinality, of the number.

Subsequent Log

INPUT: g is described without numbers, using non-numerical words. The description, which is incredibly long, is fed to SCP-𝕐.

RESULT: No data loss detected.

RESEARCHER NOTE: It seems that if you use enough non-numbers to describe the value you’re referencing, SCP-𝕐 cannot affect it. This is useful for the completion of this containment file.

Subsequent Log

INPUT: The name of an individual, whose surname is also a relatively low-value number, is to be fed to SCP-𝕐.

RESULT: Test not performed

RESEARCHER NOTE: I theorize SCP-𝕐 would have been able to differentiate between when a numerical term is being used to represent a numerical value, and when it is not. But we can’t take that chance.

Subsequent Log

INPUT: A D-Class personnel is assigned a large number, g. D-g is made aware, through an audio recording lasting several hours, that this is her new designation. g is fed to SCP-𝕐.

RESULT: Full data loss detected: g ceases to exist. D-g suffers a violent █████████.

RESEARCHER NOTE: Tests are suspended until further notice.

END LOG

Request to reclassify (Keter): Pending

Researcher: Dr. Trayvon Buckhanon

During the initial containment of SCP-𝕐, a Foundation operative assigned the anomaly a standard item designation, ⬜⬜⬜⬜, thinking that as long as the number was not added to the containment file, it would be safe to do so. He was wrong.

When this number ceased to exist, it caused extensive infrastructure outages worldwide for a short time. Foundation digital response teams were able to restore functionality to many systems before too long, by creating an algorithm that sort of…rounds everything upward or downward by a certain increment so computers don’t notice it’s missing. It is incredibly more complex than that, but I am hesitant to go into further details and risk associating SCP-𝕐 with any other numbers.

It is good at what it does, but it is an imperfect solution. ⬜⬜⬜⬜ is missing, and every day that algorithm’s attempt to patch the hole causes system errors and rounding problems in every computer system in the world. Crashes and malfunctions in everything from calculators to mobile phones to nuclear weapon silos. Cleaning up the loss of this number takes round-the-clock work of a team of mathematicians and digital engineers.

If SCP-𝕐 were to breach again, we simply don’t know if the world’s infrastructure could take it.