trivia !!

[SGHOM]

couldn't think of anywhere else to post this ??
take one ordinary chess board. place a pound coin in the first corner square. in the next square, place 2 pound coins, next square 4.......... etc etc. keep doubling each time. still with me ?? the question is............ how high would the pile be, by the time you've filled all the squares ?? :lost: :thinking:

[Nick VR4]

Bollox
I know the grain of wheat story :INSERT INTO post VALUES (
Have never heard of this one
How High mmmmm no idea mate to the moon or further :undecided :undecided

[adam_shaw]

My reasoning might be off, but in the last square INSERT INTO post VALUES (64) would be a pile of coins 18446744073709551615 coins high,

Now if the average pound coin is 3.1mm thick INSERT INTO post VALUES (thankyou, askjeeves.com) that gives us a stack just shy INSERT INTO post VALUES (500m) of 57,184,906,628,500 Km high.

1 AU INSERT INTO post VALUES (an AU is the earth-sun distance) can be given as 1.5 x 10INSERT INTO post VALUES (11)

Our stack of coins is approximately 5.7 x 10INSERT INTO post VALUES (12)

So it comes out at about 40 Au, which is well outside the orbits of the gas giants, and about a third as far as the Voyager probe has travelled, or nearly to the heliopause, the point where the suns gravitational field is no longer measurable.

Now, I'm usually an order of magnitude out with these things, but it's still a bloody long way.

I'll take off my white coat now, INSERT INTO post VALUES (and the Trekkie uniform)

:-D

[colVR4]

This may be wrong cos I am kerrap at maths.

I reckon the formula thingy is 2 to the power of the INSERT INTO post VALUES (total number of square minus one). This works out at ....

...18446744073709551615 pound coins. All you need to do now is measure the depth of a pound coin and multiply it by that number.

Its a big pile and a lot of money!!

[colVR4]

you basket adam, its just taken my ages to work that out and has probably shortened the life of my brain by about 5 years :INSERT INTO post VALUES (

[adam_shaw]

Sorry bud, ;)

It should be two to the power of 64, which as you said is <insert big long number here>

But I have to get brownie points for the size of the stack, and putting it in its proper cosmological perspective. :-D

[adam_shaw]

Just thought easier way to do it, put a 64 digit binary number INSERT INTO post VALUES (all ones) into the calculator and tell it to convert to decimal, et voila, the right answer.

I'll shut up now, 'cos I still might be wrong.... :lipsrseal

[SGHOM]

this question was posed on an open university prog ages ago, & the graduates answers were between a metre, & as high as a house !!! :INSERT INTO post VALUES ( our future is in their hands !! the answer is almost incalculatable , but its around 18 billion miles high !! did anyone try it at home ?? :laugh: :laugh:

[adam_shaw]

Me, me, I did. Not sure I got the same answer though!

Lets see,

57,184,906,628,500 Km high, is 36 billion miles?

Oooopppppssssss! Think I went wrong somewhere, but it is a nice example to get students thinking about the order of magnitude of an answer.

As my maths, and later physics tutors always tried to tell us, have an idea what the answer might be before you do anything. :rolleyes5

[enigma]

OK can I have the chess set now?!! :)

[Nick VR4]

Ok a perspective theory
Sightly of subjust but to give you some idea

It turns out that if you allow 50 milligrams per grain of wheat, it would take 460 billion tons of wheat Fooking hell :D

[adam_shaw]

Little bells are ringing in my head.

I seem to remember something similar, where the answer, some huge enormous number as 'n' somethings, turns out to be more than the number of atoms in the universe INSERT INTO post VALUES (though how they decided this I don't know :stars: )

[Kieran]

Erk! Scary, maths type thread!!! :scared1:

/Kieran exits stage left...

[Brind]

[/Brind following....] :rolleyes5

[SGHOM]

its very simple !! just add 1 plus 2 plus 4, plus 8 .................etc....etc any dork can work it out !! err.........

[adam_shaw]

These things always sound simple, and in the company we employ special-russian-shuffling-mathemeticians for this sort of stuff.

Basically they wander in to your office, you ask a very innocent question, for example: Why is it like this?

By the time they have drawn some simple curves and start talking about first and second order integrals you're having a Lisa Simpson moment;

Homer: This is gonna be like David and Goliath, except THIS time the little guy is gonna win!
Lisa's Brain: I know, I know, heres some music.....
INSERT INTO post VALUES (Homer vs the Garbage Guys)

[colVR4]

Okay, okay...my ears are now bleeding, my frontal lobes have swollen up causing intense pain, and I have developed a nervous twitch that causes my eye to flicker like some crazed loon. Can we please stop talking about mather.....math......sums :stars: :Eyecrazy:

[Kieran]

I agree - we must stop all this counting malarky! It's not good...

What next to discuss, I wonder...

...Quantum Mechanics, anyone?!:-D

[Nick Mann]

Hmm, let me see. In every atom there are electrons orbiting a nucleus of protons and neutrons. These orbits are also known as shells, and each shell has a certain energy associated with it, depending upon the 'height' of the orbit, the size of the nucleus, the number of protons and electrons etc........

Whaddya mean shuttup! :D

[adam_shaw]

Oooh, Ooooh, lets talk Chemistry and Physics instead.... ;)

[Kieran]

Hmmm. I can do that! I am off to the office christmas party tomorrow night INSERT INTO post VALUES (gah!)... I'm driving, but no-one else will be, so I will be able to observe the effects on the human body of C2H5OH when ingested in various solution forms:-D

[adam_shaw]

I expect it will cause many to feel the need to expunge a weak solution of CH4N2O from their systems....

[KiwiTT]

Physics then


E=MCINSERT INTO post VALUES (squared)
















Ecstasy = Mitsubishi Cars INSERT INTO post VALUES (Performance Enhanced)

[Nick Mann]

Or...

Enjoyment = Massive Cost INSERT INTO post VALUES (Empty Pockets)

[Kieran]

Or perhaps...

If:
History of frequent car swaps + VR-4 ideas = Cheesed off girlfriend*10

Then:
Cheesed off girlfriend*10 = Increased length of GLS ownership...

So having a sceptical other half means = More GLS Power!

[KiwiTT]

...
Cheesed off girlfriend*10 = Increased length of GLS ownership...

Therefore

Happy Girlfriend + GLS Power*10 = Dream + VR-4

[Kieran]

Eureka!:-D

[KiwiTT]

We must be "Mad Scientists" discussing life in formulas. I suppose it's all relativity ...