Happy Halloween! Last week’s puzzle was a roller coaster, with Scott S. finding two unorthodox solutions right at the buzzer. Thanks to all who participated! This week’s puzzle is also numbers-based. Keeping things mixed up between numbers and words, riddles and challenges.
Today’s puzzle is decidedly a challenge, not a riddle. There’s no catch to the prompt.
I accept that whatever answer we come up with will probably be wrong because I don’t know the terms for all the absurdly large numbers, but in that case the most exhaustive answer will be accepted- please indicate where you’re getting your numbers from if you have the highest proposed solution! Have fun!
Lots of good work done on this one. Danielle came up with the most answers with 547 different positive integers, referring to even excessively high numbers like twelve quadrillion!
Depends… do you pronounce “104” as “one-oh-four”, “one hundred four”, or “one hundred and four”?
To add to the confusion, apparently some areas pronounce “25” as “twenty and five.”
https://www.improbable.com/news/2001/aug/math101.html
…you also have this perspective:
“To say “four-and-twenty” is only illogical if you see the number as “24” (i.e. with the 2 first). This method of writing numbers has only been in use for a few hundred years, and before that “four-and-twenty” and “twenty-four” would have been equally sensible. In fact for several hundred years the two styles co-existed – though in different parts of the country.”
Peadar Mac Con Aonaigh, Brixton, London UK
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-11342,00.html
27,37,47,57,67,71,72,73,74,75,76,78,79,87,97,101,102,103,104,105,106,108,109,
201,202,203,204,205,206,208,209,301,302,303,304,305,306,308,309,401,402,403,404,405,406,408,409,501,502,503,504,505,506,508,509,601,602,603,604,605,606,608,609,700,801,802,803,804,805,806,808,809,901,902,903,904,
905,906,908,909,1001,1002,1003,1004,1005,1006,1008,1009,2002,2003,
2004,2005,2006,2008,2009,3001,3002,3003,3004,3005,3006,3008,3009,
4001,4002,4003,4004,4005,4006,4008,4009,5001,5002,5003,5004,5005,
5006,5008,5009,6001,6002,6003,600,6005,6006,6008,6009,7000,8001,
8002,8003,8003,8005,8006,8008,8009,9001,9002,9003,9004,9005,9006,
9008,9009,10001,10002,10003,10004,10005,10006,10008,10009, 100000,200000,300000,400000,500000,600000,800,000,900000,
7000000,7000000000,7000000000000
And if negative numbers count
-1,-2,-3,-4,-5,-6,-8,-9,-10,-12
404,405,406,408,409,501,502,503,504,505,506,508,509,601,602,603,604,605,606,608,609,700,801,802,803,804,805,806,808,809,901,902,903,904
For some reason I skipped these numbers