Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 20:58:06 -0500 (EST)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at keithlynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: math Question
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Candy Madigan <candymadigan at mindspring.com> wrote:
> What 2 whole numbers multiplied together = 1,000,000,000?

That number (one billion) can be factored into 2^9 * 5^9.  For your
first divisor you can choose anywhere from zero to nine of the 2s,
and multiply it by anywhere from zero to nine of the 5s, giving 100
possible divisors.  Each of these divisors must be paired with one
billion divided by that divisor.  So there are 100 possible answers.

If the order of the divisors doesn't matter, there are only 50 answers.
Examples include:

   1 * 1,000,000,000

   2 *   500,000,000
   4 *   250,000,000
   8 *   125,000,000
  16 *    62,500,000

   5 *   200,000,000
  25 *    40,000,000
 125 *     8,000,000
 625 *     1,600,000

  10 *   100,000,000
 100 *    10,000,000
1000 *     1,000,000

One billion is not a square.  It's not the product of a whole number
by that same whole number.  It's more than the square of 31,622, and
less than the square of 31,623.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but
unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable.  Please do not send me
HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread.