The Quincunx reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Quincunx

This article is about the geometric pattern of five units. Sir Francis Galton also gave the name "quincunx" to the machine he invented for demonstrating the normal distribution - also known as the bean machine.

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Quincunx expresses the arrangement of five units in the pattern corresponding to the five-spot on dice, playing cards, or dominoes. A quincunx looks like this:

The quincunx pattern originates from Pythagorean mathematical mysticism. This pattern lies at the heart of the Pythagorean tetraktys, a pyramid of ten dots. To the Pythagoreans the number five held particular significance and the quincunx pattern represented this. Sir Thomas Browne moulds his mystical discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) on the quincunx pattern.

The power of the Pythagorean mysteries is based upon a mystical understanding of the mathematical order of the Universe which could be summed up in visual representation of such numbers as the Tetraktys (10) and the Quincunx (5).

- Robert Graves, The White Goddess

A quincunx was the standard tactical formation for elements of a Roman legion. Quincunxes are used in modern computer graphics as a sampling pattern for astochastic anti-aliasing.

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