A puzzle within reach of all
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wrote on 14 Sept 2021, 13:19 last edited by jon-nyc
PUZZLE TIME: First Odd Number
What is the first odd number in the dictionary?
More specifically, suppose that every whole number from 1 to, say, 10^10 is written out in formal English (e.g., "two hundred eleven," "one thousand, one hundred forty-two") and then listed in dictionary order, that is, alphabetical order with spaces and punctuation ignored. What's the first odd number in the list?
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wrote on 14 Sept 2021, 13:22 last edited by
Also, what is the smallest odd number that cannot be described in formal English with less than twenty words?
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PUZZLE TIME: First Odd Number
What is the first odd number in the dictionary?
More specifically, suppose that every whole number from 1 to, say, 10^10 is written out in formal English (e.g., "two hundred eleven," "one thousand, one hundred forty-two") and then listed in dictionary order, that is, alphabetical order with spaces and punctuation ignored. What's the first odd number in the list?
wrote on 14 Sept 2021, 13:50 last edited byThis post is deleted! -
wrote on 14 Sept 2021, 13:51 last edited by
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Eighteen Hundred and One or 1801?
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Eighteen Hundred and One or 1801?
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wrote on 14 Sept 2021, 14:06 last edited by jon-nyc@lufins-dad said in A puzzle within reach of all:
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Eighteen Hundred and One or 1801?
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Eighteen billion comes before eighteen hundred
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wrote on 14 Sept 2021, 14:22 last edited by
Sixteen nineteen is first, in importance. Which is odd, since American systemic white supremacist culture has always emphasized 1776 instead.
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Sixteen nineteen is first, in importance. Which is odd, since American systemic white supremacist culture has always emphasized 1776 instead.
wrote on 14 Sept 2021, 14:28 last edited by@horace said in A puzzle within reach of all:
Sixteen nineteen is first, in importance. Which is odd, since American systemic white supremacist culture has always emphasized 1776 instead.
WDS?
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wrote on 15 Sept 2021, 09:47 last edited by
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Eight billion eight hundred eighty five ?
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wrote on 15 Sept 2021, 13:37 last edited by
@klaus said in A puzzle within reach of all:
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Eight billion eight hundred eighty five ?
:::Also ironically the year AD in which jon will post answers to his puzzle threads.
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wrote on 15 Sept 2021, 17:41 last edited by
Gazillion eighty eight…. LOL
Is it Centillion and odd change?
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wrote on 15 Sept 2021, 23:57 last edited by
aaaaaa-one and a two and a one two three
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wrote on 18 Sept 2021, 10:47 last edited by
SOLUTION: In dictionary order, one word precedes another precisely when the first letter in which the two words differ is, in the first word, earlier in the alphabet. Spaces and punctuation are ignored, and if there is no differing letter, the shorter word appears first.
So, finding the dictionary-first word in a set of words is just a matter of carefully and systematically considering the successive words involved in the description of a number.
The earliest digit is "eight," and the earliest odd digit is "five." We don't need to consider any other digits, but other possibly useful words that appear in numbers include "billion," "eighteen," "eighty," "hundred," "million," and "thousand." Our earliest odd number must begin with a digit, so it should start with "eight billion." After that, "eighteen" is the best we can do, and proceeding along these lines, we eventually get the answer 8,018,018,885: "eight billion, eighteen million, eighteen thousand, eight hundred eighty-five."
A little more work will get you to the first prime number in the dictionary, 8,018,018,851.
Annoyingly, "dictionary order" is (according to Wikipedia) subtly different from "alphabetical order," and the difference makes a difference. The issue is that, in alphabetical order, which is used with people's names, spaces typically are not ignored, but instead precede all other characters. Thus, alphabetically, "eight hundred" precedes "eighteen," and the first odd number in alphabetical order becomes 8,808,808,885. The first prime would in that case be the very next odd number in alphabetical order, namely, 8,808,808,889.