Typing for a long time

I found this intertesting post on J-Walk’s blog.

KeyboardYou arrive in purgatory to find it’s just a typewriter on a desk. As you take your seat, you notice that the C key is glowing faintly.

A demon says, “All you have to do is type the integers, in order: ONE, TWO, THREE, and so on. The first time you strike the C key, you’ll be released into paradise.”

That doesn’t sound too bad. Assuming it takes 10 seconds on average to type each number (and that you spell each correctly, in English), how much time will pass before you first type the letter C?

The answer:

You’ll type for 300 quintillion years before reaching ONE OCTILLION.

F.Y.I.  One octillion is a 1 with 27 zeros after it.

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

17 thoughts on “Typing for a long time”

  1. The directions don’t specify that the “c” has to be in one of the numbers you type…so technically you could get out when-ever you want to.

  2. In English it takes a long time. In French or Spanish, 50 seconds. If the demon doesnt specify its worth a shot.

  3. I think the demon failed to mention that when you hit the first key, it breaks, and you have to wait for hell’s version of Tech Support which is very familiar to the regular version of tech support.

    So not matter what language, you’ll still be there a very long while.

  4. I want to know what sort of wrong-fingered Mr Magoo-alike takes ten seconds to type “one”, or “twenty”.
    Or even “five hundred and fifteen thousand six hundred and four”.

Leave a Comment