Oddly alphabetical numbers

[bonanova]

It's Saturday night.

You're a puzzle solver and have no social life, so you amuse yourself by spelling out the first 10¹⁰ integers.

You know, like ... one, two, three, ... twenty-one, ... four hundred thirty-two, ...
nine thousand five hundred thirteen, ... two million ninety thousand three hundred five, ...
four billion three hundred seventeen million, forty-five thousand two hundred twenty-nine, ...

Then you hit Sort to get them in alphabetical order.
[Edit: spaces and hyphens are ignored.]

What's the first odd number in your sorted list?

[Guest]

Touché!

I see now that you simply repeated the same answer again in post 29, which was the one I saw. Well done.

No sleepy make brain no worky.

[Guest]

No sleepy make brain no worky.

The times you see are relative to you. I posted that about 5:30 pm here in Korea, but now it's 12:20 am and I'm ready to go to sleep ...

[Guest]

The times you see are relative to you. I posted that about 5:30 pm here in Korea, but now it's 12:20 am and I'm ready to go to sleep ...

its 11:26 am on mars

[Guest]

its 11:26 am on mars

So mars goes by eastern standard time?

[Guest]

So mars goes by eastern standard time?

duh, so when i talk to the president its the same time there as on mars.

[Guest]

i dont understand how eighteen can come before eight? In the dictionary it would not be like that?

I just want to know now, I dont have the time to type and check lol

Edited June 6, 2008 by Georgie

[Guest]

a quick excel sort of these five words gave this order:

eight

eight billion

eight million

eighteen

eighty

[Guest]

Here's a sort of the guesses so far:

eight billion eight hundred eight million eight hundred eight thousand eight hundred eighty five

eight billion eight hundred eighty eight million eight hundred eighty eight thousand eight hundred eighty five

eight billion eight hundred eighty five

eight billion eighteen million eighteen thousand eight hundred eighty five

[Guest]

Small problem:

Depends on what program you are using to sort, but Excel newest version has a list limit of 65536.

That would make the answer eight hundred eighty five.

[Guest]

Here's a sort of the guesses so far:

eight billion eight hundred eight million eight hundred eight thousand eight hundred eighty five

eight billion eight hundred eighty eight million eight hundred eighty eight thousand eight hundred eighty five

eight billion eight hundred eighty five

eight billion eighteen million eighteen thousand eight hundred eighty five

Don't forget

eight billion eighteen hundred eighty five

[bonanova]

And remember that the 7th line of the OP says ...

[Edit: spaces and hyphens are ignored.]

I'm glad you people have had so much fun while I had a long night's sleep.

Usually I'm up by the crack of noon, but today I slept in a bit.

Reading the posts so far, it looks like ...

• kingofpain post 13
  
• Duh Puck post 19
  

normdeplume - good to see you back.

[Guest]

I'm still holding to my eight hundred eighty five until someone can show me a sortable program that can list eight billion terms.

[Guest]

Wouldn't it be eight billion eighty five?

[bonanova]

WB - b comes before h ... unless you can only sort only 1,000 terms ...

Sky - e comes before y

[Guest]

Ah. I see now... tricky

[Guest]

Why not just eight?

[Guest]

Why not just eight?

I actually thought the same thing for a minute, but the question asks for the first odd number. Eight is not odd.

[Guest]

I actually thought the same thing for a minute, but the question asks for the first odd number. Eight is not odd.

Oh yeah. I wasn't paying attention.

[Guest]

eight billion eight hundred eighty five

Edited June 7, 2008 by catbert94

[Guest]

Well crud. I read the OP at work this morning and figured out the answer using "normal" sorting rules. I didn't post my answer b/c of the stupid internet filter at the office. Now that I've posted my answer, I come to realize that the OP was edited to say that spaces DON'T count.

I walk away with the satisfaction of believing I was right, if I ignore just a few minor facts that make me wrong.

[bonanova]

Well crud. I read the OP at work this morning and figured out the answer using "normal" sorting rules. I didn't post my answer b/c of the stupid internet filter at the office. Now that I've posted my answer, I come to realize that the OP was edited to say that spaces DON'T count.

I walk away with the satisfaction of believing I was right, if I ignore just a few minor facts that make me wrong.

Catbert, apologies for the time interval preceding the clarifying edit.

My bad; altho I don't think it was more than a few minutes.

Out of curiosity, if blanks are included, and if blanks precede a's in the sort, is Catbert's answer correct?

[Guest]

1 1024 177147

1 to the 10th

then 2 to the 10th power and so on

[bonanova]

1 1024 177147

1 to the 10th

then 2 to the 10th power and so on

The answer is an odd number, spelled out.

Like thirteen.

Only that's not it, because, for example, eighty-five comes before thirteen in the dictionary.

Of the first 10 billion integers, which one, when spelled out, is odd and comes before all other odd integers less than 10 billion?

[kingofpain]

I posted an answer earlier for spaces included which I think is right:)

Assuming "Omega Man" precedes "Omegaa"

Eight billion eight hundred eight million eight hundred eight thousand eight hundred eighty five

Does it beat catbert? See post #73

[Guest]

Never mind. I'm totally wrong.

Edited June 9, 2008 by Mohar