al@gtx.com (0732) (12/04/87)
The December issue of the IEEE Spectrum (p. 79R) has a full page ad for
the NSA that begins:
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10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
You're looking at a "googol." Ten raised to the 100th power. One followed
by 100 zeroes. Counting 24 hours a day, you would need 120 years to reach
a googol.
[more deleted, culminating in recruitment pitch]
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This claim, "Counting 24 hours a day, you would need 120 years to reach a
googol.", raises some interesting questions. Did they put this gross error
in as a test for prospective employees? Do they have the technology to
count at rate of 10^90 Hz? Can they use it to break DES? Is my name being
put on a list somewhere? Enquiring minds want to know.
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| Alan Filipski, GTX Corp, 2501 W. Dunlap, Phoenix, Arizona 85021, USA |
| {ihnp4,cbosgd,decvax,hplabs,seismo}!sun!sunburn!gtx!al (602)870-1696 |
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"away beyond the ishkabow and over the foofram sea
there is a place called boofland where very soon you'll be"jewett@hpl-opus.HP.COM (Bob Jewett) (12/07/87)
> Do they have the technology to count at rate of 10^90 Hz?
The fastest counter I know of was described by Clark Hamilton, et al. in
IEEE Electron Device Letters, (EDL-3, 1982). It counted at 140GHz, or
1.4*10^11. The fastest counters that could be used with practical
computing circuits count within a factor of 10 of 1GHz.
Bob Jewett jewett@hplabsstroyan@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Mike Stroyan) (12/09/87)
This claim, "Counting 24 hours a day, you would need 120 years to reach a googol.", raises some interesting questions. Did they put this gross error in as a test for prospective employees? Do they have the technology to count at rate of 10^90 Hz? Can they use it to break DES? Is my name being put on a list somewhere? Enquiring minds want to know. Maybe they got the numbers from their budgeting department. Start the project now, and talk about the cost overrun 120 years from now. Mike Stroyan, [hplabs!]hpfcla!stroyan