Batek Binary and English Transformation Art in Three Lessons

copyright 2009 James R. Batek

Lesson One

English transformation art is the application, to a work of art, of a binary signal

code for numbers which the writer invented and to which he has given the name
Batek Binary. This lesson, lesson one, explains basically what Batek Binary is in
general. Lesson two explains how Batek Binary can encode English. Lesson three
explains how English transformation art is constructed out of the code.

Batek Binary is a signal system for numbers. How it encodes letters will become
apparent later. The code uses a binary, or base two, sequence of zeros and ones
to represent numbers in any number base, although the code itself is not a
number base.

A number base is the way a set of numerals can represent a number by place
values for each place in a series of places, each place occupied by a numeral and
adding to the total value of the number the result of multiplying the numeral
times its place value. The place values are all powers of the size of the set of
numerals which can occupy places, and this size is called the base of the system.
A power and a base go together to get another number. That number is, for
positive integer powers, the base multiplied by itself the power number of times.
This is written, for example,

23.

2 is the base and 3 is the power, also called the exponent. This expression is
evaluated as two multiplied by itself three times, or,

2x2x2 = 8

A number expressed in a number base system is evaluated as the sum of all the
values gotten from multiplying place holding numerals by their respective place
values. For whole numbers, these place values all have the same base--the base
of the number system being used, which is the same as the number of numerals
which can be used in the places--and have exponents which start at zero and
increase by one every place beyond that. By convention the starting place is
always at the right and the increasing place values are placed to its left.

The exponents start at zero and are incremented by one each place to the left and
decremented by one to the right. This gives negative exponents to the right of the
zero exponent and these are evaluated as fractions. Batek Binary does not
represent fractions, only whole numbers, so these places will be ignored here. The
starting place, whose exponent is zero, is set off by a point to its right and at the

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bottom of the spaces to anchor all the place values. If a place is not needed to
contribute to the number it is filled by a zero. Zeros left of the greatest place that
does contribute are not necessary but can be given if the situation gains clarity
from it.

Any non-zero number to the zero power is defined as one, so every number starts
its place values with the place value of one just to the left of the point.

This writer sometimes uses a convention to give the base of a number.

1111[100]

represents a number in base four. The bracketed right subscript gives the base
and is always in base two. The value of the number, in this example, is found by
multiplying 1 by each of four different, ascending place values and adding. The
values of the exponents are zero, one, two and three, right to left. This is
evaluated as

( 1 x 43 ) + ( 1 x 42 ) + ( 1 x 41 ) + ( 1 x 40 ) =

64[1010] + 16[1010] + 4[1010] + 1[1010] =

85[1010].

A number which is a single digit does not need its base specified.

Here is an example in base ten:

9246[1010] =

( 9 x 10[1010] 3
) + ( 2 x 10[1010] 2
) + ( 4 x 10[1010] 1
) + ( 6 x 10[1010] 0
)=

( 9 x 1000[1010] ) + ( 2 x 100[1010] ) + ( 4 x 10[1010] ) + ( 6 x 1[1010] ) =

9000[1010] + 200[1010] + 40[1010] + 6[1010] =

9246[1010],

which is somewhat trivial as base ten is the customary final form for all results.

Now comes Batek Binary.

Given any number base, having the base of n, Batek Binary associates with any
numeral in its set of numerals an uninterrupted sequence of ones the quantity of
which is the value of the numeral, all except the zero, which is associated with a
sequence of ones the quantity of which is the value of the base of the number

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system, or n. By separating these sequences, or strings, with a single zero, a
number made up of any number of places can be formed. The longer a sample is
the more statistically probable it becomes that there is a largest string size, and
that is what an intelligent receiver will take to be representative of the zero.

Thus, in base four, the number

320[100]

can be represented as

11101101111

in Batek Binary.

Basically, that is the guts of the Batek Binary system.

Lesson Two

This lesson, lesson two, explains how Batek Binary can encode English.

Knowing that any number base can be represented in a transmissible way, let's do
it for base three. The three numerals of base three are:

0, 1, 2.

Translated into Batek Binary, these numerals are

11101011.

Returning to the number base system of representing numbers in base three, the
starting place of place values in base three has the exponent zero and the base of
three, or

30.

The value of this place is one. The amount added to the number for this place is
equal to the numeral in it times one, or just the same as the numeral. In base
three this place can be held by zero, one, or two with the contribution to the
number being also zero, one, or two. The next place, to the left of the starting
place, has the exponent of one and the base of three, or

31.

The value of this number is three. The numerals which can occupy this place,
again, are zero, one or two. Thus the contribution of this place to the value of the

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number can be

0 x 3 = 0, or
1 x 3 = 3, or
2 x 3 = 6.

The next place has the exponent two and the base three, or

32.

The value of this number is 9. The numerals which can occupy this place are again
zero, one, or two. The contribution of this place to the value of the number can be

0 x 9 = 0, or
1 x 9 = 9, or
2 x 9 = 18[1010].

If we have a three digit number in base three, it can have any value from

000[11] = 0

to

222[11] =

(2x9)+(2x3)+(2x1)=

18[1010] + 6 + 2 = 26[1010].

Thus these three places in base three are equivalent to a set of values from zero
to twenty-six. These are equivalent to the numerals of base twenty-seven.

Now consider written English. A large portion of all English consists of strings of
letters plus a blank space which appears between words. If we think of the space
as a numeral, the numeral zero that is, and the 26 letters as numerals, then we
can think of most of written English as sequences of numerals in base 27. Every
such numeral can therefore be written as three numerals of base three, and any
series of letters and spaces can be written as a concatenation of such triple digits.

Here are the base three equivalents of the space plus the 26 letters of English:

space000[11] I 100 R 200

A 001[11] J 101 S 201
B 002 K 102 T 202
C 010 L 110 U 210
D 011 M 111 V 211

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E 012 N 112 W 212
F 020 O 120 X 220
G 021 P 121 Y 221
H 022 Q 122 Z 222

Now we transform these base three values into Batek Binary of base three:

space11101110111 I 101110111 R 1101110111

A 111011101 J 1011101 S 11011101
B 1110111011 K 10111011 T 110111011
C 111010111 L 1010111 U 11010111
D 1110101 M 10101 V 110101
E 11101011 N 101011 W 1101011
F 1110110111 O 10110111 X 110110111
G 11101101 P 101101 Y 1101101
H 111011011 Q 1011011 Z 11011011

This concludes lesson two.

Lesson Three

This lesson, lesson three, explains how English transformation art is constructed
out of the Batek Binary code.

The final step in creating English transformation art is to find a text both desirable
for its own sake and which fits as code into a pleasing rectangle made up of
colored squares, one color representing a zero and another representing a one.

The larger the body of bits in the desired code the smaller each bit will be in the
final work, for a given size of work.

Not all texts will make a nice rectangle, so before making the colored squares any
prospective text must be tested first, by calculation.

Let us choose the text "goodness" as an example. Its Batek Binary code is:

GOODNESS =

11101101010110111010110111011101010101011011101011011011101011011
101

The total number of bits in the message is 68. The prime factors of 68 are 2, 2,
and 17. These factors allow us two shapes of rectangle to fit the code into: 4 x 17,
and 2 x 34. These are both quite oblong and so most folks would find such a work
very unaesthetic. We don't want to leave some locations in the rectangular grid
unused because that too is quite unappealing.

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Now let's try a different text. Let us try "yoga". Its Batek Binary code is:

YOGA =

11011010101101110111011010111011101

This message has 35 bits. The prime factors of 35 are 5 and 7. A rectangle 5 bits
by 7 bits will contain this message perfectly and placed as a portrait view it will
make a nice piece of art.

Note that at both ends of the string of zeros and ones for yoga the end bit is a
one. Although this is the most basic end condition, it is acceptable as art to put
another zero on each end, increasing the size of the code in bits by two. This does
not change the message encoded and it gives one additional bit count that could
possibly make a nice rectangle. This tactic should be done on both ends of the
whole string, not just one, for art's sake. With either way of terminating ends
accepted, it is generally one text out of every two that will make a nice rectangle.
The artist and inventor of the code uses an aspect ratio (the ratio of height to
width in the rectangle of bits) of 1.6 as a somewhat arbitrary rule for accepting a
text as art.

All that remains is to select one color for the ones and another color for the zeros,
make them a nice combination, pick a color for the border between squares (since
when the string of ones in one part of the message numbers two or three it is
desirable to show the string as composed of squares rather than a continuous bar,
it is desirable for all the squares to be set off by a border of a third color
contrasting with the colors of both zeros and ones), and basically that is how to
compose English transformation art.

This concludes the third and final lesson in Batek Binary and English
transformation art. Any questions or comments may be addressed to James Batek
at batekstart@yahoo.com.