# wtf is a "triangular snowflake"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161 "2014-01-18T19:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/41 "2014-01-21T15:55:09Z")
And regardless of the specific type of snowflake, how did he personally make such a precise number of them? ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/42 "2014-01-21T16:18:57Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Everyone else is asking what “triangular snowflakes” are. I want to know what a “total snowflake” is. Tyler. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/43 "2014-01-21T16:38:03Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Everyone else is asking what “triangular snowflakes” are. I want to know what a “total snowflake” is. Read it as “36 total”, or to paraphrase, “a total of 36 snowflakes.” > [@Keeve](#): > > And regardless of the specific type of snowflake, how did he personally make such a precise number of them? :dubious: Precise in what way? Nevermind, I guess you’re just trying to get some shots in. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/44 "2014-01-21T20:14:41Z")
The question in the OP is obviously referring to paper snowflakes, not real ones. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/45 "2014-01-21T20:42:45Z")
Kenm writes: \> America is doomed. Why? What we’re talking about here is one question used in one school district in 2013 (and, if we include the question given by Feynman) one question from one textbook in 1964. The problems with these two questions are that in each case a textbook writer didn’t write a very good question. This says nothing whatsoever about the state of education in the U.S., let alone about the fate of the U.S. Your statement sounds to me like a typical sort of pseudo-argument of a lot of conservatives. Find something, anything, no matter how trivial, that can be distorted into showing that either the quality of American public education or the intelligence of American children is low. Then decide that this means that you shouldn’t have to support public education with your taxes. Your own children can go to private schools. Who cares about poor people? Their children are stupid anyway, so it hardly matters what they study. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/46 "2014-01-22T03:56:29Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Your own children can go to private schools. Who cares about poor people? Their children are stupid anyway, so it hardly matters what they study. Your entire description, which I hesitated to quote because of its length, no doubt is accurate regarding the testers who probably couldn’t find their asses with both hands, and it’s morons like that who are shaping the mind of kids, which led to the absurdity of my post. As to the accuracy of it’s description of me, I’m happy to say it’s hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/47 "2014-01-22T04:27:41Z")
You think triangular snowflakes are bad? Wait until you try and find the factors of 36 hyper dimensional, Differential homological, Ice-9 Snowflakes in Riemann Space. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/48 "2014-01-22T07:39:23Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > You think triangular snowflakes are bad? Wait until you try and find the factors of 36 hyper dimensional, Differential homological, Ice-9 Snowflakes in Riemann Space. I daresay that Felix Hoenikker was one of those factors. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161/49 "2014-01-22T19:26:00Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I daresay that Felix Hoenikker was one of those factors. Hard to say, he’s not much of a ‘people person’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-triangular-snowflake/679161.md?page=2)