HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lbaum@atc.boeing.com (Larry Baum)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: more on .999... = 10.0
Date: 29 Sep 92 16:40:56 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services

In article <2481.imc@uk.ac.ox.prg> imc@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Ian Collier) writes:
>In article <83798@bcsaic.boeing.com>, lbaum@bcsaic.boeing.com (Larry Baum)
wrote:
>
>>The reason that .3333... = 1/3 is easier to accept is that
>>this is precisely what you get when you do the long division.
>
>So what happens if you divide 1 by 3, then multiply by 3 again?
>
>[OK, so I haven't told you how to multiply an infinite decimal by 3. Is that
>the problem?  Notice that there are no carries and multiply from left to
>right...]
>
>Well after that I suppose we are back to the old "0.9999.../3 = 1/3"
>argument. ;-)
>
>Ian Collier
>Ian.Collier@prg.ox.ac.uk | imc@ecs.ox.ac.uk
>

You misunderstand my basic point, which is psychological rather tham
mathematical.  I certainly understand limit theory, etc. and can construct all
sorts of variant explanations why .999... = 1.  I was discussing why that
proposition is innately more difficult for the non-mathematician to comprehend,
or agree with (or however you want to put it) than the .333... case.

I can convince most people who grasp long division that .333... is the correct
decimal notation for 1/3 by just having them carry out the division long enough
to see the obvious pattern.  This argument is also simplified by the fact that
.333... is the only decimal representation that works.  

But if ones asks what is the "correct" decimal representation on 2/2, 3/3 or
however you want to refer to the rational numer usually called "1", most people
will automatically reszpond with some variant of: 1., 1.0, 1.00, 1.000...

The assertions and proofs about .999... inevitably involve more difficult
concepts of limits, sequences, or other such.  the .999.../3 argument means I
have to understand and accept scalar multiplication of infinite
representations.  In fact, as soon as my "proof" involves manipulation of
infinite representations I have a much more difficult pedalogical task than if
all I have to do is lead you to the discovery of the right infinite
representation, which is all I need to do with most students in the 1/3 case.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: amorgan@csd-d-3.Stanford.EDU (Crunchy Frog)
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
Originator: amorgan@csd-d-3.Stanford.EDU
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organizatoin
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 19:37:24 GMT

In article <1ang20INN8tj@gap.caltech.edu> carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU writes:

>That's why I said that you wanted to be at the same longitude.  That way, noon
>is at the same time both places.  Picking two places at the same longitude but
>separated by a large enough distance to make the estimate reliable is a matter
>of figuring out to sufficient precision which way north is, and then some
>surveying.  Not a trivial task, but not impossible, either.

Ah!  Sorry, I was reading latitude when you said longitude. It all makes sense
now.

C Frog
From: rh@smds.com (Richard Harter)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Caliban's Will
Date: 1 Oct 92 05:33:51 GMT
Reply-To: rh@ishmael.UUCP (Richard Harter)
Organization: Software Maintenance & Development Systems, Inc.

In article <1992Sep27.005807.25782@questrel.com> chris@questrel.com (Chris Cole) writes:

>In conclusion, I believe Mr. Allen is correct and I will regretfully remove
>this problem from the FAQL as defective.

I believe I may have been the first person to have posted this problem
some five or six years back.  When I first posted it, I posted it in
an amended form, first posting the original and then asking for the
error in the original answer.  I suggest you carry it in that form.
-- 
Richard Harter: SMDS Inc.  Net address: rh@smds.com Phone: 508-369-7398 
US Mail: SMDS Inc., PO Box 555, Concord MA 01742.    Fax: 508-369-8272
In the fields of Hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die.
From: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Minimal Pairs (SPOILER)
Date: 30 Sep 92 13:05:32 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Sep29.211329.18317@wam.umd.edu>, Joe Miller writes:

> Can you find a minimal pair for /TH/ (hard "th") and /th/ (soft "th").

"thy" and "thigh" leap to mind.
-- 
Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618
From: imc@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Ian Collier)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Astronomy: farther = closer
Date: 29 Sep 92 15:16:00 GMT
Organization: Oxford University Computing Laboratory, UK
X-Local-Date: Tuesday, 29th September 1992 at 4:15pm BST
Originator: imc@msc2.comlab

In article <1992Sep28.132224@IASTATE.EDU>, macster@IASTATE.EDU (Michael C Mccarty) wrote:

>Through a process of induction, you will discover that no matter how many
>objects you have in your universe, it is impossible to tell what is moving and
>what is not.

A precise measurement of the cosmic background radiation will show that,
although it is very smooth, it varies continuously between one direction in
which it is hottest, and the opposite direction in which it is coolest.
This is due to the doppler shift induced by the Earth's motion relative to
the cosmic background radiation.  So in a sense, it is possible to tell what
is moving and what is not.

Ian Collier
Ian.Collier@prg.ox.ac.uk | imc@ecs.ox.ac.uk
Organization: Doctoral student, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 17:13:20 -0400 
From: Simon Szykman <ss8c+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Most anagrams

How about:
    stop spot opts pots post tops

                            - Simon
From: isaak@aurora.com (Mark Isaak)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: An ancient Chinese puzzle
Summary: Eureka!
Date: 3 Oct 92 19:26:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: aurora.1992Oct3.192637.4366
Reply-To: isaak@aurora.com (Mark Isaak)
Organization: The Aurora Group

In article <1992Oct3.103824.1@ntuvax.ntu.ac.sg> sb102760@ntuvax.ntu.ac.sg writes:
[How to weigh an elephant if all your scales are too small?]

Build a basin big enough for an elephant to float in.  (If the elephant
sinks, tie some floats to it.)  Fill the basin to the brim with water.
Lead the elephant into it.  Weigh the water which overflows.  If the
elephant doesn't make too many waves, this will equal the weight of the
elephant plus the weight of the floats.
-- 
Mark Isaak           "Every generation thinks it has the answers, and every
isaak@aurora.com      generation is humbled by nature." - Philip Lubin
From: isaacs@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Stan Isaacs)
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 17:24:14 GMT
Subject: Re: Gaby Games Address needed
Organization: the HP Corporate notes server
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles

/ hpcc01:rec.puzzles / steppe@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Top Changwatchai) /  5:49 pm  Sep 20, 1992 /
...
> Hmm, I'm also getting interested in 3-d puzzles in general (whether they
> be wooden interlocking ones or have ropes or locks or whatever).  Can
> anybody suggest good places to look for these things (mail order or
> retail stores)?  Bits & Pieces sent me a catalog recently, and I ordered
> the sword one, but the catalog was comprised mainly of jigsaw puzzles.
> 
> I'd appreciate any info.
> 
> Top

Try 

   Puzzletts
   Mike & Conni Green
   24843 144th Place S.E.
   Kent, WA 98042-3423
   (206) 630-1432
   FAX: 206-639-0994

They have more puzzles available of more types than anybody I've
found.  They have a puzzle club, and they also sell my mail.  I don't
think they have a regular catalog yet, but (at least for the puzzle
club) they have a 300-or-so page xeroxed cataolog.  

  -- Stan Isaacs
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: msp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Mike Paterson)
Subject: Re: Cross cutting
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Warwick University, England
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 10:53:48 GMT

Firstly, thanks to those who have responded in this newsgroup or by 
e-mail. Secondly, I apologize for the mistakes in my posing of the puzzle: 
`five' should have been `six' and `sqrt 5' should have been `sqrt 6'.
I give the corrected version below. Thirdly, some of my 
responders congratulated me on setting a subtle tricky problem 
and `solved' the 5-version. Congratulations to them!

I have not yet had any solutions or proofs of impossibility for 
the intended problem.

=)My son posed me the following, slightly imprecise, problem.
=)
=)It is required to make two straight cuts of the diagram below, 
=)which represents six unit squares, so that the pieces can be 
=)rearranged to form a square. 
=)
=)More restrictively, is there a solution where the two cuts are made 
=)simultaneously and cross at rightangles cutting the shape into just 
=)four pieces which can be rearranged, with or without flipping, 
=)to make a square of side \sqrt 6 ?
=)
=)                     ---
=)                    |   |
=)                    |   |
=)                 --- --- ---
=)                |   |   |   |
=)                |   |   |   |
=)                 --- --- ---
=)                    |   |
=)                    |   |
=)                     ---
=)                    |   |
=)                    |   |
=)                     ---


-- 
 Internet,EARN/BITNET,UUCP: msp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk | Mike Paterson 
 JANET: msp@uk.ac.warwick.dcs                     | Dept. of Computer Science
 PHONE: +44 203 523194                            | University of Warwick     
 FAX:   +44 203 525714                            | Coventry, CV4 7AL, ENGLAND
From: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
Date: 4 Oct 1992 19:13:31 GMT
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Reply-To: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

In article <1992Oct4.185114.14341@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>, amorgan@csd-d-3.Stanford.EDU (Crunchy Frog) writes:
>One thing I have always wondered about is how the inventor of this
>technique (Erasthophenes?) was able to tell when it was noon at each
>place.  Now it is trivial since we have accurate timepieces, but they
>didn't back then.  Did he wander over there with an hourglass or something?

It's no trivial now than it was then, actually.  Remember, the odds are 6 to 1
against it actually being within 5 minutes of noon when your watch says it's
noon, assuming your watch is set to the official time in your timezone.  For
the purposes of estimating the diameter of the Earth, it's LOCAL noon we want. 
I.e., the time of day when the sun is highest in the sky.  Which brings us to
the very simple technique for making the measurement:
    1)	Find (or make) a level patch of ground (easy to tell if it's level:
	pour water on it, and if it runs off in one particular direction, it's
	not level);
    2)	Drive a stake into the middle of the ground.  Make sure the stake is
	vertical (again, easy to do; just use a plumb bob); 
    3)	Throughout the day, mark the end of the shadow at frequent intervals).
    4)	When the shadow was shortest, it was noon.
Note that you don't really need to know at noon that it's noon.  You can now
get the information you need at your leisure. Since the lengths of the shadow
at noon and of the stake give you the angle of the sun from the horizon at
noon, and you've been marking the endpoint of the shadow at frequent intervals,
you just need to measure the shortest distance from your stake to one of the
marks you made.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: CARL@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL

Disclaimer:  Hey, I understand VAXen and VMS.  That's what I get paid for.  My
understanding of astronomy is purely at the amateur level (or below).  So
unless what I'm saying is directly related to VAX/VMS, don't hold me or my
organization responsible for it.  If it IS related to VAX/VMS, you can try to
hold me responsible for it, but my organization had nothing to do with it.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque)
Subject: Re: No vowels, One syllable
Organization: Pseudopolis Yard
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 08:19:30 GMT

Paul Hellweg, in _The Insomniac's Dictionary_, lists these 15 words from
current unabridges dictionaries as not having aeiouy:

brrr
crwth
cwm
grr
hm
hsh
nth
phpht (pht)
psst (pst)
shh (sh)
tch
tck
tsk
tsktsk
tst

(Of course, as others have pointed out, the w in crwth and cwm is a
vowel.)

Hellweg then goes on to list over a hundred obsolete words from the OED
which also do not have aeiouy.  All those words have v or w as a
vowel.

---
Dan Tilque    --     dant@techbook.com
From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
Date: 4 Oct 92 01:57:43 GMT
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam

In article <1aleqmINNk87@gap.caltech.edu> carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU writes:
 > I prefer the originally published technique:  Measure the angle of the sun
 > from the horizon at noon from two places at the same longitude but different
 > latitudes, and a known distance apart.  Simple trigonometry will give you an
 > estimate of the diameter of the earth.
I like this.  When is it noon?  How do you find out when it is noon?
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj  amsterdam, nederland
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn  amsterdam, nederland; e-mail: dik@cwi.nl
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE)
Subject: Re: Minimal Pairs (SPOILER)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 00:19:00 GMT

I write...
>How about lather?

Of course I mean one who laths. :-)

Dave Ring
dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu
jhsegal
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Puzzles...
From: jhsegal@wiscon.weizmann.ac.il (Livy)
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 16:37:59 GMT
Organization: Weizmann Institute of Science, Computation Center

1) Suppose there is a game in which two players place little paper marks
(of different colors) on a big,white,square paper.The purpose of the game is
to place your marks on the paper.If you cannot place a mark on the big piece
of paper,you loose. YOUR mission is to build a strategy by which the first
player will ALLWAYS win.(I hope u understood the question...)

2)How many numbers of 9 are from 1 to 100 ?

3)A cowboy have 1243 cows.Besides 345,all of them die.How many cows he still
have?

4)From one hundred fifty  you take! How much do you have?

Livy
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque)
Subject: Re: Pronunciation puzzle
Reply-To: dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque,,,,)
Organization: Pseudopolis Yard
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 11:56:03 GMT

[I apologize if this has been seen before, but I believe that the news
software failed to post it because of a full disk.]

dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque) writes:
>tvaughan@buphyk.bu.edu (Timothy Vaughan) writes:
>>So, can people do better than a five-letter word, of which there are MANY
>>examples in Web 9?
>
>Landslip (8 letters)

Grandstand (10 letters)

---
Dan Tilque    --     dant@techbook.com
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE)
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 20:51:00 GMT

>>One thing I have always wondered about is how the inventor of this
>>technique (Erasthophenes?) was able to tell when it was noon at each
>>place.  Now it is trivial since we have accurate timepieces, but they
>>didn't back then.  Did he wander over there with an hourglass or something?

Everyone keeps talking about finding out when it is noon. That's easy. The
hard part is the distance!

Dave Ring
dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu
From: blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Minimal Pairs
Date: 30 Sep 92 23:55:00 GMT
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

"loath" and "loathe"
"teeth" and "teethe"
"seeth" and "seethe"

I sense a pattern :).

--
_____________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum           Institute for the Learning Sciences   Room 327
blum@ils.nwu.edu   1890 Maple Ave., Evanston, IL 60201   708-491-3207

"By the power vested in me by my own over-inflated ego, I now 
 declare this bridge officially open."
_____________________________________________________________________
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: 20 question stories
Organization: Nitpicks R Us
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 92 08:25:40 GMT

> > This keeps coming up.  The original poster said *near* the South Pole.
> > If you start 10+5/pi miles from the pole, and walk south the ten miles ...
 
> Actually, a bit more than 360 degrees.
> If the 5/pi distance is along the spherical surface ...

Spherical?  Come now.  Ellipsoidal surface!  Well, more or less...

:-)/2
-- 
Mark Brader			"People with whole brains, however, dispute
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto		 this claim, and are generally more articulate
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com	 in expressing their views."	-- Gary Larson

This article is in the public domain.
From: kml@cellar.org (Scott Tiger)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: No vowels, One syllable
Date: 5 Oct 92 16:25:57 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system

isaak@aurora.com (Mark Isaak) writes:

> "nth".
> 

which is the answer I was seeking.  cwm does have a vowel.  Credit also
goes to tsk and shh for effort, although they did not make Webster's 
9th collegiate.


              Also, Charlottesville must be destroyed.

   These may not even be my opinions, let alone anyone else's.
  kml%cellar@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com - My other account is a Mercedes.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,rec.woodworking,rec.games.misc
From: billg@bony1.bony.com (Bill Gripp)
Subject: Re: Wooden "Puzzles"...
Keywords: puzzle
Organization: LA&W RR
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 13:41:14 GMT

In article <BvB0D8.GA9@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> chews@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (HCE) writes:

>	I have a "puzzle" that my grandfather gave me which is a wood
>sphere made up of a number of interlocking pieces.  You can take
>it apart and you have about 10 pieces.  It is quite difficult to
>then figure out how to put them all back together again.  
>	I have looked for more puzzles of this kind, but have not
>been able to find them anywhere.  I know another person who has
>one (his is a cube), but I have never seen them for sale.  I would
>really appriciate any suggestions on where to find such
>puzzles.  They are really challenging and fun -- I hope someone
>can help me.  

I have a 3 puzzle set my grandmother bought me at the American Museum of
Natural History in New York.  It consists of a sphere, a cube, and an
elephant. (The sphere and cube go together exactly the same way).  I
haven't been there in many years so I don't know if they still sell
them.


Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE)
Subject: Re: 1024 equilateral triangles out of 28 lines
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 05:35:00 GMT

Solomon Chang writes:
>> Using 28 line segments of equal length and equal width, arrange them so
>> that you have 1024 equilateral triangles.

*** SPOILER ***


They have width, so we can stack them like metersticks with the long edges on
the table. Stack them in slightly spaced bunches of 16, 8, and 4. Arrange the
three bunches in a triangle so that they intersect each other. Now there are
16*8*4=512 triangles touching the table, and 512 more above them. Of course
if the segments have thickness too, then we have too many triangles :-)

Dave Ring
dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu
From: shoham@ll.mit.edu (Daniel Shoham)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Chess-problem
Date: 6 Oct 92 00:07:33 GMT
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

In article <BvIFxz.4K7@news.cso.uiuc.edu> acheng@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Albert Cheng) writes:
>
>In article <1992Oct2.182648.1904@news.eng.convex.com>, Dave Dodson <dodson@convex.COM> writes:
>>
>>If so, I see such a position for 7 queens.
>
>6 queens can do too.  Put them from b2 to b7.  All rows from 2 to 7
>are checked.  a8 to c8 checked by queen at b7.  d8 to h8 checked by
>queens at b6 to b2 respectively.  Same for the row 1.  All squares
>checked.

5 can do it: a5, b2, d7, f4, g2

Dan Shoham
shoham@ll.mit.edu
From: blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Packing problem
Date: 6 Oct 92 22:28:51 GMT
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

>First shift the top row by half a diameter so that each top circle rests
>on two bottom circles. This leaves a gap at the top. The density is so
>far unchanged. Now rotate the first group of 4 circles counterclockwise until
>the fourth circle touches the top edge. Repeat for all groups of four. This
>will leave some space so that the groups may be shifted left. The resulting
>density is about 0.5% better than the naive density.
>
>Dave Ring
>dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu

Sounds good, but could you post the important parts of the math
(basically, the area ratio calculation)?

--
_____________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum           Institute for the Learning Sciences   Room 327
blum@ils.nwu.edu   1890 Maple Ave., Evanston, IL 60201   708-467-2306

"By the power vested in me by my own over-inflated ego, I now 
 declare this bridge officially open."
_____________________________________________________________________
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Minimal Pairs
From: wft@math.canterbury.ac.nz (Bill Taylor)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 01:47:04 GMT
Organization: Department of Mathematics, University of Canterbury

ether & either
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto)
Subject: Re: 20 question story
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 18:45:43 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <hoens.717319418@gmd.de> hoens@gmd.de (Guenter Hoens) writes:
>this is a story i have not seen so far on the net:
>
>A man comes home with his car. His wife leaves the house, inspects the
>car, returns and shoots her husband. What has happened?

She found her husband's mistresses undergarments in the car.
-- 
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures.  Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
From: tjl@cbnews.cb.att.com (timothy.j.lipetz)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: No vowels, One syllable
Date: 2 Oct 92 20:15:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnews.1992Oct2.201535.10093
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T

>In article <DV0wRB1w164w@cellar.org> kml@cellar.org (Scott Tiger) writes:
>>Given that we've beaten the one-vowel, two-syllable puzzle into the ground,
>>how about a no-vowel, one-syllable word.  I know of one in Webster's.
>>I does not contain an A,E,I,O,U,or Y.

You may want to also exclude W, otherwise you may get some
words of Welsh origin like "cwm".

My American Heritage dictionary also lists "sh".  I'll bet there
are some other interjections which qualify.

However, I'll bet you are thinking of "nth".

Tim Lipetz
att!cbzoo!tjl
or
tjl@cbzoo.att.com
From: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: A probability problem <SPOILER>
Date: 30 Sep 92 12:30:49 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Sep30.021252.6236@cs.cornell.edu>, David Karr writes:

> 	= (1 - 4.84/(2.2*10^22)) ^ 2.2*10^22
> this is a real good approximation to e^-4.84 which is about .007907.
            ^^^^^^^^^
this gets my vote for understatement of the year.
-- 
Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess