The case of the missing fractals - Alex Rosenthal and George Zaidan

Translator: Syifa Sabrina Reviewer: Prameswari Rahmanu

It was a night like any other night,

Waktu itu seperti malam biasanya,

except here I was climbing the platonic peaks

kecuali di sini aku sedang memanjat puncak

like Romeo on a second date.

seperti Romeo di kencan kedua.

(ugh)

(Uh)

I was there for the dame.

Aku di sini untuk seorang wanita.

Matanya bagai bilangan imajiner

She had eyes like imaginary numbers

and curves that went on forever.

dan lekuk yang tidak ada habisnya.

Said she wanted to go home.

Katanya dia ingin pulang ke rumah.

Said I could help.

Dia memintaku membantunya.

Said the pay was good.

Katanya bayarannya bagus.

Didn't say anything about climbing a...

Tidak bilang tentang memanjat—

Voice: "Who's there?"

“Siapa di sana?”

Manny Brot: "Manny Brot, private eye."

“Manny Brot, detektif lepas.”

Voice: "What are you doing here?"

“Apa yang kau lakukan di sini?”

"A pretty number sent me to find a stolen dingus."

“Seseorang memintaku untuk menemukan sesuatu yang dicuri.”

Voice: "Well, to enter the cave,

“Baiklah, untuk memasuki gua ini,

you must answer my riddles three."

kau harus menjawab tiga teka-teki dariku.”

What was it with riddles,

Ada apa dengan teka-teki

and why do they always come in threes?

dan kenapa mereka selalu muncul tiga?

"Is it an egg?"

“Apakah itu sebuah telur?”

"No. Why would it be an egg?"

“Bukan. Kenapa harus telur?”

"It's usually an egg."

“Biasanya itu telur.”

"What can I hold in my hand, but has zero area?"

“Apa yang bisa dipegang, tapi memiliki area nol?”

"Is it a dodo egg?"

“Apakah itu telur dodo?”

"It's not an egg!"

“Bukan telur!”

I took out the rock that had nearly brained me before

Aku keluarkan batu yang hampir mengenaiku

and gave it a hard ponder.

dan merenungkannya.

The size of the rising bump on my conk

Ukuran benjolan di kepalaku

said to me that this thing had area,

mengatakan kalau hal ini mempunyai area

and a lot of it.

yang sangat luas.

But what if I carved out a triangle from this side here?

Tapi bagaimana kalau aku membuat segitiga dari sisi ini?

As any mook could see,

Seperti yang bisa dilihat,

this triangle had a quarter of the area of the full triangle.

segitiga ini memiliki seperempat area dari segitiga yang penuh.

I did the same thing again with each of the smaller triangles.

Aku lakukan hal sama dengan segitiga lebih kecil.

Again, a quarter of the remaining area -- gone.

Lagi-lagi, seperempat area sisanya hilang.

And I just kept going.

Dan aku lakukan terus.

After an infinite number of cuts,

Setelah jumlah yang tak terhingga,

I was satisfied that my triangle had zero area.

aku puas segitigaku memiliki area nol.

A bounded shape with zero area.

Sebuah bentuk bertepi dengan area nol.

Now, it's not often that I surprise myself,

Tidak sering aku mengejutkan diriku sendiri,

but my own two mitts had created something crazy,

tapi kedua tanganku telah menciptakan sesuatu yang gila

and new.

dan baru.

"Very good. (ahem)

“Bagus sekali. (Ehem)

Now, show me a shape with finite area,

Sekarang tunjukan padaku sebuah bentuk dengan area terbatas,

but an infinitely long perimeter."

tapi dengan panjang keliling tak terhingga.”

"Let me get this straight.

“Biar aku luruskan.

If I want to make a snip in the border of this shape,

Kalau aku ingin memotong di tepi bentuk ini,

smooth it out, and lay it on the ground ... "

meluruskan dan menaruhnya di tanah,”

"It would go on for ... "

“Itu akan--,” “Tunggu aku selesai,

"Wait 'til I'm through, and then you can talk.

baru kau bisa bicara.”

It would go on forever."

“Itu akan berlangsung selamanya.”

"Are you through?"

“Kau sudah selesai?”

"Yeah."

“Iya.”

"So show me that shape then."

“Kalau begitu, tunjukan padaku bentuknya.”

Mmm ... I hadn't been this stuck

Hm, aku tidak pernah sebuntu ini

since the Rubik's Cube fiasco of '58.

sejak kegagalan Kubus Rubik di ’58.

Setahuku semua bentuk punya keliling.

All the shapes I knew had perimeters.

Circles: 2πr. Triangles: sum of their sides.

Lingkaran: 2πr. Segitiga: jumlah sisi-sisinya.

What's this?

Apa ini?

An angle.

Sebuah sudut.

An angle from heaven.

Sebuah sudut dari surga.

What if I were to pinch each side, like so.

Bagaimana kalau aku tarik tiap sisinya, seperti ini.

A third of the way through, just so.

Sepertiga jalannya, sama persis.

And do it again,

Dan lakukan lagi,

and again,

dan lagi,

and again.

dan lagi.

After each pinch, the perimeter got a third longer

Setelah itu, kelilingnya menjadi sepertiga lebih panjang.

because where there had been three line segments,

Karena sebelumnya ada tiga bagian garis,

now there were four.

sekarang ada empat.

As for the area,

Untuk areanya,

every pinch made more triangles, that's true.

tiap tarikan membuat lebih banyak segitiga, benar.

But those triangles were getting smaller and smaller.

Tapi segitiga itu jadi mengecil dan semakin kecil.

You could say that the area was converging,

Bisa dibilang areanya menjadi memusat,

approaching a fixed number,

mendekati angka yang tetap,

while the perimeter was just getting bigger and bigger,

sementara kelilingnya membesar dan semakin besar,

uncontrollably ballooning like an overindulgent birthday clown.

mengembang tak terkendali seperti badut ulang tahun yang berlebihan.

After infinity pinches, flimflam, there it was:

Setelah tarikan tak hingga, tipuan, jadilah:

Finite area, but infinite perimeter.

Area terbatas, tapi keliling yang tak hingga.

Now that is a piece of work.

Itu adalah mahakarya.

"Oh, you're good. (ahem) Riddle three:

“Oh, kau jago. (Ehem) Teka-teki ketiga:

Show me a picture that if I magnify it under my microscope,

Tunjukan gambar yang kalau aku perbesar di bawah mikroskop,

I'll keep seeing the original picture,

aku akan tetap melihat gambar aslinya,

no matter how much I zoom in."

tak peduli seberapa banyak aku memperbesarnya.”

"You're a strange little man."

“Kau orang yang aneh.”

"Thank you."

“Terima kasih.”

I was out of ideas,

Aku kehabisan ide.

so I looked at my muse, my complex Dora.

Jadi, aku lihat inspirasiku, Doraku yang rumit.

Voice: "Who's the dame?"

“Siapa wanita itu?”

And then it hit me.

Dan aku dapat inspirasi.

"She's a heart breaker, my fractal femme fatale.

“Dia penghancur hati, fraktal femme fatale-ku.

Will she do?"

Apa dia bisa?”

"Yes, she'll do just fine."

“Ya, dia bisa.”

(lightning)

(Suara petir)

It was dark, and at first I thought the cave was empty,

Saat itu gelap, dan awalnya aku pikir guanya kosong,

but then I noticed: the box.

lalu aku melihat: sebuah kotak.

The dame had played me like a triangle.

Wanita itu mempermainkanku seperti segitiga.

She had told me she wanted to go home.

Dia berkata padaku ingin pulang ke rumah.

(Lightning)

(Suara petir)

What she really wanted was to bring her home here.

Yang dia sungguh inginkan adalah membawanya pulang ke sini.

The fractals spread everywhere.

Fraktalnya menyebar. Kebanyakan mereka sama

Most of them the same

no matter how deep you looked at them,

seberapa dalam pun kau melihat mereka,

like Dora's mugshot.

seperti foto Dora.

Some had infinitely long perimeters,

Beberapa memiliki panjang keliling tak hingga,

others were objects with no area or volume,

yang lainnya objek nol area atau volume

all of them created through infinite repetition.

semuanya tercipta lewat pengulangan tak hingga.

So, you wanted to know what fractals are?

Jadi, kau ingin tahu apa itu fraktal?

Well, kid, they're the stuff that dreams are made of.

Nak, merekalah bahan pembuat mimpi.

(Music)

(Musik)