The Powers That Be

Project hash brown
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:02 pm

The Powers That Be

Post by Project hash brown »

Am i supposed to find a calculator that will show all of the numbers? Does anyone on here know of one?
darthludi
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:08 pm

Post by darthludi »

If I calculate (17**39)**11 I'm getting a number with 528 digits, which (conveniently) is 16*33. Now if I split that number into blocks of 33 digits, and write down the last digit of each block, I get a certain 16 digit number starting with 26 and ending with 07. But I'm told that this is not the correct answer.
Now, if I take the first digit, and every 33rd from there (1st, 34th, 67th, ...) I get a number starting with 76 and ending with 77, which apparently is wrong too.

Do I need to apply any conversion? Or did my calculator (bc) do something wrong here? Or did I misinterpret the description (non-native english speaker)?
gfoot
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Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:34 pm
Location: Brighton, UK

Post by gfoot »

You should submit the 1st, 34th, etc digits. One of the digits you quoted (76......77) was wrong. Maybe you miscounted the digits, if you did it by hand.
darthludi
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Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:08 pm

Post by darthludi »

No miscount, looked at the wrong column after I broke it into groups. Shouldn't do these at 1 in the morning. Thanks :D
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karma-fusebox
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:37 pm

Post by karma-fusebox »

gfoot wrote:You should submit the 1st, 34th, etc digits
right. but i wouldnt have solved this one without your hint.. the question is easily misunderstood as:

33rd = the "first, most significant" ;)
66th
99th
...
mcjohn
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:05 am

Post by mcjohn »

Karen's power tools calculator has come in handy for this and other challenges; it allows for long values.
retool2
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:06 pm
Location: EARTH

Post by retool2 »

I've made my own multiply function
if u know the math trick
(17**39)**11 = 17**(39*11)
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karma-fusebox
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:37 pm

Post by karma-fusebox »

that trick is pretty useless here. either way you have a hard time without the right tools..
Project hash brown
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Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:02 pm

Post by Project hash brown »

How do i enter this sum into Karen's power tools? Also so far my computer has been unable to come with anything up to 17^16, so i don't see how I'm supposed to complete this task.

(Ive times 17 by 17 and then I've been pressing = to times it by 17 over and over again, I've only been ably to get to 17^16, after that it takes around half an hour per sum.
vielinko
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Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:48 pm

Post by vielinko »

Project hash brown wrote:How do i enter this sum into Karen's power tools? Also so far my computer has been unable to come with anything up to 17^16, so i don't see how I'm supposed to complete this task.

(Ive times 17 by 17 and then I've been pressing = to times it by 17 over and over again, I've only been ably to get to 17^16, after that it takes around half an hour per sum.
maybe u will need a program to solve this :P ... I use Java->BigInteger to did it.
________
Ford 300 (1963) specifications
Last edited by vielinko on Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bsguedes
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Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:39 am
Location: Porto Alegre

Post by bsguedes »

Powerful hand calculators are useful here too...
Mad Hacker
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 12:02 am

Post by Mad Hacker »

python can do it, it might take a while though
~~~~
note: i'm not necessarily a mad hacker, i'ts my screen name
therethinker
Posts: 144
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:29 pm
Location: #hacker.org on Freenode

Post by therethinker »

Really? In python, it was a one-liner for me that took no noticeable time to run.
Mad Hacker
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Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 12:02 am

Post by Mad Hacker »

oops, i was thinking of a different challenge
~~~~
note: i'm not necessarily a mad hacker, i'ts my screen name
Masti6
Posts: 55
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: Finland, Nurmes

Post by Masti6 »

Any powerful web calculator that anyone would recommend?
MS Calculator is totally useless, and I don't know how the script goes in PHP, nor do I know any other coding language to solve the problem with.

Thanks in advance.
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