Intellectual Curiosity

Belle et Bonne had not quite told the truth, a fact she instantly regretted on seeing the faces of the editors lit up with intellectual curiosity. She did not understand Einstein's formula at all. It began with BB, which was what her best friends called her, and somehow this had given her the confidence to make the boastful claim.

Enlighten us, dear Belle et Bonne, said The VeloDrone.

Yes, do, echoed Le Bon David.

Oh, said Belle et Bonne airily, tapping her fingers on the keyboard so lightly that her interlocutors failed to notice. Well.... BB, that's BBcode, which is used for formatting messages, and PGG, that would refer to the Program Generator Generator, which generates specialised versions of programs from known inputs. M is obviously the message itself. So you see, Papa, and David, it's all about programming and generating messages.

Good heavens! said The VeloDrone. You mean it's not about bicycles at all!

Oh yes, Papa, it's about bicycles as well. But that's just the superficial meaning.

Le Bon David looked somewhat unconvinced. What about the zero? Why does everything end up equalling nought?

Ah, said Belle et Bonne, thinking quickly. It isn't a zero, it's a pictogram. It's a representation of a person's head with nothing in it. You see Einstein's formula is a work in progress, and he hasn't completed it yet.

Alright, said The VeloDrone, trying hard to keep up with his clever daughter. What are the equal signs supposed to represent? Are you going to tell me that they aren't equal signs but sets of grinning pictograms?

Well done Papa! That's one way of seeing them, and a good one! But .....

(Belle et Bonne tapped surreptitiously on the keyboard)

.....perhaps you didn't know that the equal sign was only invented in the 16th century, and before that mathematicians used 'ae' as a shortened form of 'aequalis', which is the Latin word for equal, but also.....

Also the initials of Albert Einstein! cried Le Bon David, in admiration. O brilliant ! And you are brilliant too, dear Belle et Bonne, for understanding it, and explaining it so clearly to two foolish old men......

Speak for yourself , David, said The VeloDrone. She is her father's daughter.

I thought you said she was adopted? said Le Bon David sharply.