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Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:46 am
by Kieran Child
1) Biggest number that doesn't have an "n"?
2) Smallest number that does have an "a"?
3) Biggest number with no letters repeated?
4) Smallest number with every letter repeated?
5) Only number with same value as its number of letters?
6) Only number that spells out its value in scrabble?
7) Biggest number that's spellt alphabetically and...
8) Biggest number that's spellt reverse-alphabetically?

GO GO GO!

Oh and I'm not accepting answers like "googol" or "shitloads" or "yourmothersage"

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:51 am
by Joseph Bolas
Kieran Child wrote:1) Biggest number that doesn't have an "n"?
2) Smallest number that does have an "a"?
3) Biggest number with no letters repeated?
4) Smallest number with every letter repeated?
5) Only number with same value as its number of letters?
6) Only number that spells out its value in scrabble?
7) Biggest number that's spellt alphabetically and...
8) Biggest number that's spellt reverse-alphabetically?

GO GO GO!

Oh and I'm not accepting answers like "googol" or "shitloads" or "yourmothersage"
Not sure if we are meant to PM these but I know the following three of the top of my head:

2) ONE THOUSAND?
5) FOUR
7) FORTY

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:00 am
by Kai Laddiman
Are fractions allowed?

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:01 am
by Phil Reynolds
Joseph Bolas wrote:Not sure if we are meant to PM these but I know the following three of the top of my head:
Well, your answer to number two is wrong for a start.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:02 am
by Kieran Child
Nah, don't need to PM. But that thing you did where it turns white is a nice idea, so others don't accidentally see the solution, but can if they really want to, once it's been solved.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:03 am
by Kieran Child
oh, and no fractions. No negative numbers. No fancy business.
No saying "X cubed" then later defining X as 1337.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:47 am
by Dinos Sfyris
Kieran Child wrote:1) Biggest number that doesn't have an "n"?
2) Smallest number that does have an "a"?
3) Biggest number with no letters repeated?
4) Smallest number with every letter repeated?
5) Only number with same value as its number of letters?
6) Only number that spells out its value in scrabble?
7) Biggest number that's spellt alphabetically and...
8) Biggest number that's spellt reverse-alphabetically?
Had a quick go at some. My answers in white below
1. Eighty eight?
2. One hundred and One?
5. Four
6. Twelve
7. Forty

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:22 pm
by Howard Somerset
Kieran Child wrote:1) Biggest number that doesn't have an "n"?
2) Smallest number that does have an "a"?
3) Biggest number with no letters repeated?
4) Smallest number with every letter repeated?
5) Only number with same value as its number of letters?
6) Only number that spells out its value in scrabble?
7) Biggest number that's spellt alphabetically and...
8) Biggest number that's spellt reverse-alphabetically?
Not sure whether it makes a difference yet, but I'm assuming we're adopting the non-US form of including AND after HUNDRED if anything else follows.

My first attempt as some. I may come back and improve


1 EIGHTY EIGHT
2 ONE
3 FIVE THOUSAND
4 ?
5 FOUR
6 ?
7 FORTY
8 ONE

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:25 pm
by Howard Somerset
Didn't read question 2 correctly. I'd read doesn't instead of does, which made it rather too easy.

So, second attempt:



1 EIGHTY EIGHT
2 ONE HUNDRED AND ONE
3 FIVE THOUSAND
4 ?
5 FOUR
6 ?
7 FORTY
8 ONE

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:51 pm
by Howard Somerset
At last, an attempt at question 4. And found the scrabble letter values, so can attempt q6 as well.


1 EIGHTY EIGHT
2 ONE HUNDRED AND ONE
3 FIVE THOUSAND
4 THIRTY THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SIX
5 FOUR
6 TWELVE
7 FORTY
8 ONE

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:20 pm
by Paul Howe
For no 1, how about a googolplex?

Edit: Have just read you're not accepting that. Philistine.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:25 pm
by Joseph Bolas
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:Not sure if we are meant to PM these but I know the following three of the top of my head:
Well, your answer to number two is wrong for a start.
I thought that was right, going by the following logic: The first word that comes across an 'A' is AND for ONE HUNDRED AND ONE, but the word AND ain't a number. I put ONE THOUSAND because the word THOUSAND is a number and therefore IMO is the lowest number to contain an 'A'.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:40 pm
by Phil Reynolds
Joseph Bolas wrote:
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:Not sure if we are meant to PM these but I know the following three of the top of my head:
Well, your answer to number two is wrong for a start.
I thought that was right, going by the following logic: The first word that comes across an 'A' is AND for ONE HUNDRED AND ONE, but the word AND ain't a number. I put ONE THOUSAND because the word THOUSAND is a number and therefore IMO is the lowest number to contain an 'A'.
To paraphrase Arthur Dent, this is obviously some strange usage of the word "logic" that I wasn't previously aware of.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:30 pm
by Kieran Child
Oh me oh my, such fire in you countdowners.
Howard has got a set of 8 correct answers :D

For those of you who may be annoyed by that, I hear that the US system does not use the word "and" when writing it out, so two of the answers change. Feel free to find the alternative answers :)

Also of interest, in German the units comes before tens, so directly translated, the number 21 would have an A in it. "one and twenty".

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:50 pm
by Howard Somerset
Kieran Child wrote:Howard has got a set of 8 correct answers :D
That's strange, because I've just logged in to improve on my answer to question 4.

TWENTY TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SIX

I think a lot more thought is going to be required to produce a US version for q4. I may get chance to have a go this evening.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:53 pm
by Kieran Child
Oh. I actually only solved Q4 for the US version, and your answer seemed good for the UK version, so I gave it a mark. Don't complain ;)

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:58 pm
by Howard Somerset
Before I start working on a US version of the answer to question 4, can we confirm that we're using the newer standard of calling 10^9 one billion, rather than the older system which I grew up with of calling 10^9 one thousand million, and 10^12 one billion?

I'm not convinced we're going to have to go into such high numbers, but suspect that we might.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:03 pm
by Kieran Child
1 billion = 1,000,000,000

The new system. Because when something's new, it's automatically better.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:13 pm
by Howard Somerset
Kieran Child wrote:... when something's new, it's automatically better.
I may just take issue with that. From that premise it follows that practically everyone on this forum is better than me. It may well be true, but I'd rather it wasn't emphasised. :D

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:39 pm
by Joseph Bolas
Kieran Child wrote:For those of you who may be annoyed by that, I hear that the US system does not use the word "and" when writing it out, so two of the answers change. Feel free to find the alternative answers :)
Oh, its the Americans who don't use AND then :oops:. The alternative answer then should still be what I said.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:14 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Howard Somerset wrote:At last, an attempt at question 4. And found the scrabble letter values, so can attempt q6 as well.


1 EIGHTY EIGHT
2 ONE HUNDRED AND ONE
3 FIVE THOUSAND
4 THIRTY THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SIX
5 FOUR
6 TWELVE
7 FORTY
8 ONE
I think that A HUNDRED is a perfectly valid answer to number two and therefore the winner. Also for number five, why not SIXTEEN POINT ZERO? NINETEEN POINT NOUGHT? OK, those last two are a bit silly but I stand by A HUNDRED.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:25 pm
by Jon O'Neill
You're all cunts.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:46 pm
by Jon Corby
Jon O'Neill wrote:You're all cunts.
Image Image Image

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:56 pm
by Ian Volante
Kieran Child wrote:1) Biggest number that doesn't have an "n"?
2) Smallest number that does have an "a"?
3) Biggest number with no letters repeated?
4) Smallest number with every letter repeated?
5) Only number with same value as its number of letters?
6) Only number that spells out its value in scrabble?
7) Biggest number that's spelt alphabetically and...
8) Biggest number that's spelt reverse-alphabetically?

GO GO GO!

Oh and I'm not accepting answers like "googol" or "shitloads" or "yourmothersage"
1) 88
2) 101
3) 84
5) 4
6) 12

The others I can't be arsed with...

And having read the thread now, I'm glad I didn't spend more time. Silly americans!

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:08 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Number 1 - no number has an N if you write it out properly. 87452358725 - where's the N?

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:24 pm
by Clare Sudbery
filler

Re: Number-names

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:27 pm
by Clare Sudbery
And again with a paler background...

1) eighty eight
2) a hundred
3) nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine (999,999)
5) four
6) twelve

But I'm assuming that "repeated" means doubles (as in MILLION contains repeated Ls), rather than duplicates (as in NINE contains repeated Ns).
Edit: Which, now that I've looked at other people's answers, seems to be a false assumption. Oh well.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:28 pm
by Howard Somerset
Two nights in a caravan without internet access prompted me to have another look at this one, so here's my attempt at question 4, US style (i.e. no use of AND)

THREE TRILLION FOUR HUNDRED FOUR

Re: Number-names

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:13 am
by Kieran Child
Very well done Howard :)

And thank you for implying that my puzzles are more interesting than a caravan. I'm flattered.

Re: Number-names

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 8:00 pm
by Joseph Bolas
Kieran Child wrote:Very well done Howard :)
IAWTP. Nicely solved Howard :D