Blonk numbers and Center of the Cubieverse

Discussion in 'General Speedcubing Discussion' started by Stefan, Apr 12, 2010.

1. StefanMember

7,287
27
May 7, 2006
WCA:
2003POCH01
StefanPochmann
.

You might've heard of Bacon numbers or Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. The idea is to count how many movies someone is separated from Kevin Bacon. He himself is not separated at all, so his own Bacon number is 0. Actors appearing with him in movies have Bacon number 1, actors appearing in movies with those have Bacon number 2, and so on. The lower your Bacon number, the closer you are to Kevin.

I have now transferred the idea to cubing, the connections not made by appearing in the same movie but by appearing in the same WCA competition. But where do I start, who is the Kevin Bacon of cubing? Well, only one way to find out:

So my "Blonk number" is 1, because I participated in the 2005 world championship together with Michiel. Here's the distribution of Blonk numbers for all WCA members:

Code:
Blonk
number    People

0          1   (this is Michiel himself)
1        201   (I'm one of these, woohoo!)
2       5430
3       3124
4        332
none        19   (the competitors of Dubai Open 2009)

Average Blonk number: 2.39447623239437

Michiel only appeared in two competitions, though, WC2003 and WC2005. That is nice for the game, cause not too many people get a Blonk number of 1, but it also doesn't quite make him the "Center of the Cubieverse" (just like Kevin Bacon isn't really the Center of the Hollywood Universe). The WCA member with the smallest average distance to everyone else is... Lars Vandenbergh. No wonder, as he has competed in 67 competitions, more than anyone else.

Code:
Vandenbergh
number    People

0          1   (this is Lars himself)
1       1672   (I'm one of these, woohoo!)
2       6836
3        579
none        19   (the competitors of Dubai Open 2009)

Average Vandenbergh number: 1.87951144366197

And here are the top 10:

1.880: Lars Vandenbergh (67 competitions)
1.884: Bob Burton (59 competitions)
1.886: Arnaud van Galen (58 competitions)
1.906: Shelley Chang (55 competitions)
1.910: Takao Hashimoto (43 competitions)
1.915: Tyson Mao (43 competitions)
1.927: Timothy Sun (20 competitions)
1.933: Piti Pichedpan (only 9 competitions)

The bottom 10 (or rather 11):
4.210: Yang-Sung Ling (1 competition)
4.210: Joy Lin (1 competition)
4.210: Yung-An Chen (1 competition)
4.210: Yu-Hsiang Chan (1 competition)
4.210: Wei-Shu Lai (1 competition)
4.210: Fang-Chieh Yang (1 competition)
4.210: Tzu-Cheng Chen (1 competition)
4.210: Chih-Chieh Su (1 competition)
4.210: John Lin (1 competition)
4.210: Kai-Chieh Chan (1 competition)
4.210: Jizhen Ho (1 competition)
These are all competitors of the Chia-yi Pyraminx Competition 2009 except Tzu-Chun Chou, who connected this competition to the rest of us (except the Dubai Open 2009).

Note 1: These statistics are based on the WCA database as of early April 12, 2010. I don't intend to update this post, but I'm working on a page that updates automatically and that will also have more functionality.

Note 2: Erdős numbers are the same idea (how many scientific publications are you separated from famous mathematician Paul Erdős) and are older, but Bacon numbers seem to be more well-known and there's no single Paul Erdős of cubing. That's why I chose Bacon. Besides, who doesn't [thread=12681]love Bacon[/thread]? Btw, check out this nice comic.

Last edited: Aug 1, 2010
2. Lucas GarronSuper-Duper ModeratorStaff Member

But Erdős numbers are more classic!

Anyhow, I would really be in favor of van Bruchem numbers. If there's one guy in the center of cubing, it's Ron.

3. StefanMember

7,287
27
May 7, 2006
WCA:
2003POCH01
StefanPochmann
You're just angry cause your Blonk number is 2

Ok, (van) Bruchem numbers:
Code:
Bruchem
number    People

0          1   (this is Ron himself)
1       1365   (I'm one of these, woohoo!)
2       6876
3        846
none        19   (the competitors of Dubai Open 2009)

Average Bruchem number: 1.94267165492958

4. robinkwantMember

11
0
Jan 14, 2009
WCA:
2008KWAN04
robincuber
nice idea very interesting

5. EscherBabby

3,365
60
Jul 23, 2008
WCA:
2008KINN01
RowanKinneavy
You are so, so awesome

6. jiggyMember

454
0
Oct 21, 2009
London (UK)
Haha, excellent post! What's the deal with those 19 Dubai Open 2009 competitors though?

7. StefanMember

7,287
27
May 7, 2006
WCA:
2003POCH01
StefanPochmann
That Dubai competition is completely separate from the rest. None of its participants ever participated in any other competition, so there's no connection to any other competitions and thus persons.

8. jiggyMember

454
0
Oct 21, 2009
London (UK)
But is that the only competition where this happened? What a strange anomaly!

9. JBCM627Member

799
0
Apr 27, 2008
Ohio, USA
WCA:
2006MERT01
Normally, the delegate has competed in a previous competition and competes in the competition they are delegating. Not the case with Dubai, who had a delegate from Seven Towns.

10. StefanMember

7,287
27
May 7, 2006
WCA:
2003POCH01
StefanPochmann
Yes, that's the only one. That pyraminx competition came close, only connected to the rest of the world via a single competitor.

11. MichaelP.Member

756
3
Jun 20, 2009
Texas
WCA:
2009PERK02
speedcubingcentral
If I understand correctly, my Bacon Number is 4. Me > Anthony > Tyson > Blonk.

Oct 20, 2007
Rochester, MN
WCA:
2007LOGA01
You > Casey Pernsteiner > Blonk

13. cincyaviationMember

Nov 26, 2009
Lawrenceburg, IN
WCA:
2010HOVL02
how do we find out our numbers?

14. VincentsMember

321
2
Jan 9, 2010
WCA:
2006SHEU01
Look for familiar names...

I think I'm usually a 2, because everyone at US Nats 09 connects me to most of the world =)

15. StefanMember

7,287
27
May 7, 2006
WCA:
2003POCH01
StefanPochmann
I doubt you have a Bacon number. Your Blonk number is 2, like Bryan said.

Browse the database making guesses, download the WCA database export and analyse it with a program, or wait until I'm finished with my page

16. scotzbhoyMember

298
0
Feb 4, 2009
WCA:
2009COGH01
Scotzbhoy
My Blonk number is 2, via Dan Harris. My Vandenbergh number is 1 and my (van) Bruchem number is 2, via quite a few people.

17. MichaelP.Member

756
3
Jun 20, 2009
Texas
WCA:
2009PERK02
speedcubingcentral
Thank you Casey!

18. Neo63Member

Yay my Blonk number is 2 via Dave Campbell

This is such an interesting idea, can't wait till your website finishes.

19. TysonMember

639
0
Apr 18, 2008
Burlingame, CA, USA
WCA:
2004MAOT02
I have a Bacon number

Due to a mistake on IMDB.

20. ForteMember

Jul 12, 2009
Waterloo, Ontario
WCA:
2009SHIN02