Puzzler: Why is Trek 4 missing?
Answer: Four is not a Fibonacci number (see "A Special Sequence").
Grasping the computer mouse, you are about to click on the buckyball (see "The Amazing Buckyball"). Oops! The mouse slips, and you inadvertently click on a different object. Your space capsule zooms toward something that looks like a giant baseball.
"We're landing on a baseball asteroid!" Bill exclaims.
"What's that?" asks Anita, pointing out the window at some markings on the ground. "It's like a baseball diamond!"
"What a weird playing field," Bill says. "The baselines look sorta curved."
As the three of you step outside, a tall, very thin figure approaches. "Hey, you're late for the game," the alien says.
You gaze in awe at this odd figure, which looks amazingly like the numeral "1."
"Come on," the figure says, leading you to the curvy baseball diamond. "It's Digits versus Earthlings; you guys bat first. We can at least get started."
As the tall, thin Digit walks over to first base, you spot another strange figure standing near second base: an alien creature shaped like the number "2." What's more, there's a "3" standing at third base, a "4" behind home plate, a "5" at shortstop, and a "6" on the pitcher's mound.
The outfield seems to disappear beyond the horizon, but you can make out the top of a "7" in left field. In center field, you see the top of an "8," and the right fielder looks like a "9."
"You first," says Anita, picking up a bat and handing it to you.
The pitcher sends you a slow, easy pitch, and you give the ball a light tap. It's a grounder heading straight toward third. Before you can run, however, the ball curves and ends up rolling across the baseline. What an unfair foul!
When the next pitch comes, you swing and smack the ball toward center field. Instead of landing in the outfield, though, the ball keeps on going until it vanishes over the horizon. You race around the bases, wondering why you don't have to turn sharply at each corner.
As you approach home plate, the ball you had hit reappears from behind the backstop, just misses the catcher, and flies over the field a second time.
What sort of shape is the baseball diamond, and why doesn't the baseball land?
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