Homeopathic Scanner Puzzle

[cronus]

I've a flatbed scanner and can scan upto 4800dpi and just wondered if I scanned something then printed it out at 300dpi then scanned the scan and then the scan how long before only scanner artifacts remain and nothing of the original? Maybe one for someone with the math expertise like Jim C?

[charlou]

[Tero]

It gets fuzzy really quick. You can do the experiment on photo software without scanning. But there are some effects that result from scanning an already scanned picture. Some patterns appear that are not really there.

[Jason]

In theory you'd be magnifying it by 12 each time you scanned it.

Simple enough maths: Magnification = 12n where n[/n] is the number of times you scan it through.

In reality you'd just get a lot of noise and artifacts probably about the third scan.

[JimC]

In theory you'd be magnifying it by 12 each time you scanned it.

Simple enough maths: Magnification = 12n where n[/n] is the number of times you scan it through.

In reality you'd just get a lot of noise and artifacts probably about the third scan.

Not really magnifying the entire image, but combining 12 dots into 1 dot each time, so it would get progressively grainier. 2nd scan, 144 original dots into 1 dot, 3rd scan 1728 original dots into one dot, so the upshot is pretty much as Faku said, sweet fuck all after the 3rd scan.

I'd be interested in seeing the pics if you did the experiment...