World letter problem.

**apj101** · 12-13-2006, 05:30 PM

NO calculators allowed!!!!!!! Dont spoil the fun

I have a letter with a secret written on it, and i want the world to know!
So on Day 1 I send copies of my letter to 2 people who dont know the secret
They receive the letter on Day 2 and each immediately send the letter 2 of there own friends who don't know the secret
So now 4 people receive the secret on day 3, and likewise each of these 4 people immediately send the letter 2 of there own friends who don't know the secret
and so on

How many days until everyone in the world has received the secret? Assuming letter always arrives the day after posting!!!!!

SirKenin · 12-13-2006, 06:45 PM

*brain explodes*

**dragon2309** · 12-13-2006, 09:41 PM

would it not help if we were given an exact number of people in the world, we could look it up on google but might get contrasting answers, so do you wanna set a number now?

dragon

**DCIScouts** · 12-13-2006, 09:48 PM

I would guess around 32 or 33 days... 33 days would get to about 8.6 billion people which is a little better than the number of people in the world if memory serves...

**Shady** · 12-13-2006, 09:57 PM

I think we are 6 billion and a fraction as far as I remember!
did we grow so fast?

**DCIScouts** · 12-13-2006, 09:58 PM

Just checked it out for sure, we're currently around 6.7 billion or so...

Rambo · 12-13-2006, 10:44 PM

29 days?

pdc76 · 12-14-2006, 07:24 AM

what's the secret? and why didn't you use email. it would've taken WAY less time.

**Archangel** · 12-14-2006, 08:23 AM

1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256-512-1024-2048-4096-8192-16384-32768-165536-331072 -662144 -1324288 -2648576 -1297152 -2594304 -5088608 -10177216 -20354432 -40708864 -81417728 -162835456 -325670912 -651341824 -1302683658 -2605367316 -5210734632 -10421469264

so.. it would take 35 day's for everyone to get the letter

( didnt use a calculator.. but wasted a piece of paper on it. ^_^ )

**apj101** · 12-14-2006, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archangel

1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256-512-1024-2048-4096-8192-16384-32768-165536-331072 -662144 -1324288 -2648576 -1297152 -2594304 -5088608 -10177216 -20354432 -40708864 -81417728 -162835456 -325670912 -651341824 -1302683658 -2605367316 -5210734632 -10421469264

so.. it would take 35 day's for everyone to get the letter

( didnt use a calculator.. but wasted a piece of paper on it. ^_^ )

hehe, firstly i doesnt matter how many people are exactly in world, its somewhere around 6billion
Archangel your dedication is impressive but its very very wrong
think at the easily stages, it would actually go
1 - 2 - 4 - 16 - 256 etc

Well anyway any more guesses?

12-13-2006, 05:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
apj101 Administrator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London Age: 26 Posts: 9,179	World letter problem. NO calculators allowed!!!!!!! Dont spoil the fun I have a letter with a secret written on it, and i want the world to know! So on Day 1 I send copies of my letter to 2 people who dont know the secret They receive the letter on Day 2 and each immediately send the letter 2 of there own friends who don't know the secret So now 4 people receive the secret on day 3, and likewise each of these 4 people immediately send the letter 2 of there own friends who don't know the secret and so on How many days until everyone in the world has received the secret? Assuming letter always arrives the day after posting!!!!! __________________ What did one snow man say to the other? can you smell carrot? The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. How you do anything, is how you do everything! Last edited by apj101; 12-13-2006 at 05:42 PM.

12-13-2006, 09:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
dragon2309 P.I Dragon Join Date: May 2005 Location: KENT, UK Age: 20 Posts: 8,435	would it not help if we were given an exact number of people in the world, we could look it up on google but might get contrasting answers, so do you wanna set a number now? dragon __________________ Intel Core2Duo E6600 @ 3.1Ghz - (__CPU__) eVGA 680i SLi - (__MOB__) 4Gb Corsair Dominator DDR2-800 (4x1024Mb) - (__RAM__) 250Gb Western Digital SATAII 7200rpm - (__HDD__) nVidia BFG 8800GTS OC 320Mb - (__GFX__) LG DVD+/-RW 18x DVD-RAM - (__OPT__) Triple Boot - [XP Pro] + [Vista Ultimate] + [Ubuntu 7.10] - (__OS__) [3DMARK'03 :: 25,587] --- [3DMARK'05 :: 13,989] --- [3DMARK'06 :: 8791] - (__BENCHMARKS__) dragon2309.co.uk - a little slice of geek

12-13-2006, 09:48 PM	#4 (permalink)
DCIScouts Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA Age: 26 Posts: 5,110	I would guess around 32 or 33 days... 33 days would get to about 8.6 billion people which is a little better than the number of people in the world if memory serves... __________________ In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -Martin Luther King Jr. The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a little. -Joe Martin FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358 Posting and you - CF Edition Cheers CF

12-13-2006, 09:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
Shady Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cairo Age: 21 Posts: 2,362	I think we are 6 billion and a fraction as far as I remember! did we grow so fast? __________________ Phenom X4 9850 BE Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 2GB Kingston DDR2 800 Radeon HD 3450 WD5000AAKS 500 GB

12-13-2006, 09:58 PM	#6 (permalink)
DCIScouts Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA Age: 26 Posts: 5,110	Just checked it out for sure, we're currently around 6.7 billion or so... __________________ In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -Martin Luther King Jr. The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a little. -Joe Martin FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358 Posting and you - CF Edition Cheers CF

12-13-2006, 06:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
SirKenin banned Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4,711	brain explodes

12-13-2006, 10:44 PM	#7 (permalink)
Rambo Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 3,841	29 days? __________________ "75% of all statistics are made up, including this one. 62.481% of people who read that believe it is true. *And if you're one of the 37.519% who don't, copy and paste this into your signature." -* tlarkin, Cromewell, and Rambo.

12-14-2006, 07:24 AM	#8 (permalink)
pdc76 Platinum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 802	what's the secret? and why didn't you use email. it would've taken WAY less time. __________________ Intel QX9650 w/ Ultra-120 Exreme / Evga nForce 780i SLI 4Gb (2x2Gb) Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15 2 nVidia 8800GTX SLI / 22" Asus Wide LCD, 19" KDS CRT SB X-FI X-tremegamer FATAL1TY Edition w/ 64Mb X-Ram 2 Sata II 320Gb Raid 0 array, 2 Sata 110Gb Raid 0 array Super Multi Blue Blu-Ray & HD-DVD w/ Lightscribe / Floppy Antec Quattro 1000W Modular PSU / Lian-Li PC-65B case Dual Boot Vista Home Premium SP1, XP Professional SP2

12-14-2006, 08:23 AM	#9 (permalink)
Archangel Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Netherlands Age: 21 Posts: 8,125	1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256-512-1024-2048-4096-8192-16384-32768-165536-331072 -662144 -1324288 -2648576 -1297152 -2594304 -5088608 -10177216 -20354432 -40708864 -81417728 -162835456 -325670912 -651341824 -1302683658 -2605367316 -5210734632 -10421469264 so.. it would take 35 day's for everyone to get the letter ( didnt use a calculator.. but wasted a piece of paper on it. ^_^ ) __________________ Newton is dead, Einstein is dead, I don't feel very well either Xfire - Mirrari Intel Q6600 ( @3.6GHz) Asus Triton 79 Amazing 549/3200 4x 1Gb Corsair XMS2 DDR800 Asus Maximus Formula Asus & Sapphire HD3870 512Mb ( 850/1180 ) Corsair HX620W PSU

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