Eco: Foucalt's Pendulum by eco umberto foucault Read Free Book Online Page A

use antediluvian number
systems that did not even include zero? But Abu gave his answers in
exponential notation, so Belbo was unable to daunt Diotallevi with
a screen full of endless zeros: a pale visual imitation of the
multiplication of combinatorial universes, of the exploding swarm
of all possible worlds.
    After everything that
had happened, it seemed impossible to me, I thought as I stared at
the Rosicrucian engraving, that Belbo would not have returned to
those exercises on the name of God in selecting a password. And if,
as I guessed, he was also preoccupied with numbers like thirty-six
and one hundred and twenty, they would enter into it, too. He would
not have simply combined the four Hebrew letters, knowing that four
Stones made only twenty-four Houses.
    But he might have played
with the Italian transcription, which contained two vowels. With
six letters¡Xlahveh¡Xhe had seven hundred and twenty permutations
at his disposal. The repetitions didn't count, because Diotallevi
had said that the two hes must be taken as two different letters.
Belbo could have chosen, say, the thirty-sixth or the hundred and
twentieth.
    I had arrived at Belbo's
at about eleven; it was now one. I would have to write a program
for anagrams of six letters, and the best way to do that was to
modify the program I already had written for four.
    I needed some fresh air.
I went out, bought myself some food, another bottle of
whiskey.
    I came back, left the
sandwiches in a corner, and started on the whiskey as I inserted
the Basic disk and went to work. I made the usual mistakes, and the
debugging took me a good half hour, but by two-thirty the program
was functional and the seven hundred and twenty names of God were
running down the screen.
    iahueh
    iahuhe
    iahtuh
    iahehu
    iahhve
    iahhev
    iauheh
    iauhhe
    iauehh
    iauehh
    iauhhe
    iauhih
    iaehuh
    iaehhv
    iaeuhh
    iaeuhh
    iaehhu
    iaehuh
    iahhu*
    iahhev
    lahuhe
    iahueh
    iahehv
    iaheuh
    ihaueh
    ihauhe
    ihaeuh
    ihaehu
    ihahue
    ihahcu
    i hwaeh
    ihuahe
    ihueah
    ihueha
    ihuhae
    ihuhea
    iheauh
    iheahv
    iheuah
    iheuha
    Ihehau
    ihehva
    ihhaue
    ihhaev
    ihhuae
    ihhuea
    ihheau
    ihheua
    iuaheh
    iuahhe
    iuaehh
    iuaehh
    iuahhe
    i uahth
    iuhaeh
    i uhahe
    iuehah
    iuehha
    iuhahe
    iuhaeh
    i uhhae
    iuhhea
    iuheah
    iuheha
    itahuh
    i eahhu
    ieavhh
    ieauhh
    ieahhv
    ieahuh
    iehauh
    iehahu
    iehuah
    iehuha
    iehhau
    iehhua
    itvahh
    ieuahh
    ievhah
    ieuhha
    iiuhah
    ieuhha
    iehahu
    iehauh
    iehhau
    iehhva
    iehwah
    iehMha
    lhahue
    ihaheu
    ihauhe
    ihaueh
    ihaehv
    ihaeuh
    ihhaue
    i hhaeu
    ihhuae
    ihhuea
    ihheau
    ihheua
    ihuahe
    ihuaeh
    ihuhae
    ihuhea
    ihueah
    ihueha
    iheahu
    iheauh
    ihehau
    ihehua
    iheuah
    iheuha
    aihueh
    ai huhe
    ai heuh
    aihihu
    ai hhue
    aihheu
    ai uheh
    ai uhhe
    aiuehh
    aiuehh
    aiuhhe
    aiuh?h
    aiehuh
    aiehhv
    aieuhh
    aieuhh
    ai ehhu
    ai ehuh
    aihhue
    aihheu
    aih-uhe
    aihueh
    ai hehu
    aiheuh
    ahiueh
    ahiuhe
    ahieuh
    ahiehu
    ahihue
    ah i hew
    ahuieh
    ahu i he
    ahueih
    ahuehi
    ahuh ie
    ahvhei
    ahe i uh
    aheihu
    ahe u i h
    aheuhi
    aheh i u
    ahehui
    ahhii/B
    ahhieu
    ahhuie
    ahhye i
    ahhei v
    ahheu i
    auiheh
    aui hhe
    auiehh
    auiehh
    au ihhe
    auiheh
    auh i eh
    auhihe
    auheih
    auhehi
    auhhie
    auhhei
    aueihh
    auei hh
    aueh ih
    auehh i
    auehih
    auehhi
    auhihe
    avhieh
    auhhie
    aMhhei
    auhe ih
    auhehi
    aeihuh
    aeihhu
    aeiuhh
    aeiuhh
    aeihhu
    aeihuh
    aehiuh
    aeh i hu
    aehuih
    aehuhi
    aehhiu
    avhhu i
    aeu i hh
    aeuihh
    aeuh i h
    aeuhhi
    aeuhih
    a>uhhi
    aehihu
    aehi uh
    aehhiu
    aehhui
    aehuih
    aehuh i
    ahihue
    ahiheu
    ahiuhe
    ahiueh
    ahiehu
    ah iewh
    ahhiue
    ahhieu
    ahhuie
    ahhuei
    ahheiu
    ahheu i
    ahu i he
    ahy ieh
    ahuhie
    ahuhe i
    ahue i h
    ahuehi
    ahe i hu
    aheiuh
    aheh i u
    ahehui
    ahevih
    aheuhi
    I took the pages from
the printer without separating them, as if I were consulting the
scroll of the Torah. I tried name number thirty-six. And drew a
blank. A last sip of whiskey, then with hesitant fingers I tried
name number one hundred and twenty. Nothing.
    I wanted to die. Yet I
felt that by now I was Jacopo Belbo, that he