I flipped a quarter 900x and it came up tails each and every time

Tails never fails. But the odds that 900 flips would come out the same way are astronomical. ;)

I flipped a quarter 900x and it came up tails each and every time.

That is a lie or else it is a bent or two headed tails quarter. If a true quarter, the odds are 8 followed by 270 zeros. There are not that many atoms in the universe. Not even if a billion, trillion, trillion universes.

the odds are 8 followed by 270 zeros.

There are the astronomical odds right there. I do not have a calculator that would go that high. Thanks. ;)

I do not have a calculator that would go that high.

You don't need a calculator that can directly raise 2 to the 900th power.

2^n = 10^[n * ln(2)/ln(10)]

2^900 = 10^[900 * ln(2)/ln(10)] = 10^[900 * 0.30103] = 10^270.93

Fun with logarithms!

If a true quarter, the odds are 8 followed by 270 zeros. There are not that many atoms in the universe. Not even if a billion, trillion, trillion universes.

please tell us when you counted all the atoms.

Fun with logarithms!

I never really got that far advanced in math. Besides, driving trucks and doing highway maintenance my whole my whole life did not require advanced calculating skills.

The most we need to know was a ton of asphalt compressed in a 10' x 10' x 1" thick patch with surface mix.

The foreman usually did that calculating and had a slide rule just to make sure there were no mistakes.

And doing logs when driving OTR was a different story entirely.

We did make sure we counted everything that went on the trailer since sometimes the receiver would give a bad count. And if the driver could not prove it was on the truck they were on the hook for the discrepancy. And believe me the receivers would sometimes try to screw the drivers. We caught them in Florida trying that scam. We demanded a recount and they found what was missing.

But one time I made a delivery in Ohio and they forgot to sign the bills after I was unloaded. So I stopped a the guard shack so they could sign.

There was a strawberry blond woman in there. She looked a the bills and said, "Oh look. It says B4."

Sometimes the dispatcher would make a note on the bills such as "B4 9:00". They wanted delivery by 9 AM.

She was a dumb strawberry blond. ROTFLOL

Being able to "do" logarithmic equations isn't learned, it's a gift from God.

My HP scientific calculator does go that high (actually to 10^500). However, you are right, using logarithms you can calculate it without a scientific calculator.

That reminds me of an old friend of mine who was in the construction business. He hired me to tutor his teenager in math, so we were talking about math one time, and math's practical applications in life. I said "Bill, you must use math all the time -- say, when you're calculating how many cubic yards of concrete you'll need to pour a new front porch."

"How's that?", he asked.

"You know, you multiply the length in feet times the width times the height and divide by 27 to find the volume in cubic yards."

"No," he said, "that's way too complicated. I just walk down where the porch is gonna be and measure it off in my head: there's a yard, there's another yard, and so on 'till I get to the end."

Worked for him!

it's a gift from God

Math is racist.

Being able to "do" logarithmic equations isn't learned, it's a gift from God.

I would imagine so. After all, I was jus a dumb truck driver most of my life until I got sick. But I could read a map and find my way around. Lots of guys got lost all the time, like this one green kid that was with me back in 2003 or so.

Now I am playing catch up to remember everything the meningitis wiped out in my memory.

Christine said when I first contacted her when recovering from my illness, "Jim, you're alive! When you disappeared we all feared the worst."

I am a tough old buzzard and will be like that the rest of my life. ;)

"No," he said, "that's way too complicated. I just walk down where the porch is gonna be and measure it off in my head: there's a yard, there's another yard, and so on 'till I get to the end."

Worked for him!

Any way that works to get the job done is the best way to do it. ;)

Math is racist.

Exactly right, just as are all STEM arenas, and let's don't forget the English language.