On Thu, 12 Feb 98 15:40:31 -0500 Larry Macy
<macy@bblmail.psycha.upenn.edu> writes:
>For all those of you with slightly older PC's Here's a reason to
>rejoice!!!
>
> New Integer Discovered, Millenium Bug Delayed
>
>Those computer scientists trying to find a fix for the so-called
>"millenium bug" have just gotten a break thanks to the discovery of a
>new
>integer by an unnamed mathematics professor at a well known
>university.
>
>The number, which comes between 1999 and 2000 is 199f. The f is a
>symbol
>for the digit foof which is normally an imaginary number but
>occasionally
>pops into the realm of real numbers -- by the way, that's the word
>"Foof", not hexadecimal eff-zero-zero-eff.
>
>The reason for this is that although 10 is an exact integer, the base
>of
>our decimal number system is approximately 9.995002 which we usually
>round up to 10. The number that we call "one" actually has a value of
>about .9995002.
>
>This means that due to the rounding errors inherent in our decimal
>number
>system, it takes 2001 times .9995002 to make the year 2000, so this
>means
>that the millenium bug won't actually strike until what we have been
>thinking of as 2001.
>
>When asked why we hadn't discovered this before, the professor replied
>"We've always been in a rush, doing simple integer arithmetic and
>ignoring the fractions. Now that we're counting years at the actual
>rate
>of only one per year, we can see the situation clearly for a change."
>
>Whether or not 199f is a leap year has yet to be answered. The usual
>procedure of dividing by 4 doesn't apply because 4 is also an
>approximation. Researchers hope to answer this question before 199f so
>that calendars can be printed.
>
>When asked if there are any more years between 1999 and 2000, we were
>told that "while theoretically possible, our current research shows
>it's
>extremely unlikely -- the numbers indicate that we might be able to
>squeeze another day or two out of the seventh decimal place, but
>beyond
>that we're only looking at a minute here and there."
>
>George Trudeau, Town of Falmouth
But Larry.......does this REALLY mean that i can record one programme
while im watching another???????
mike robson
6"foof" roadster
70"foof" plus one BGT
72 roadster (with "foofed" front shocks!)
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