[OT] Google Math Fun

[Jim Hurley]

Hi Scott,

Google math is great. It will even evaluate factorials up to about 170.  170! = 7.257416e+306

Most calculators show an overflow beyond 60!

But Wolfram alpha will evaluate 300! = 3.0605751221644063603537046129726862938858880417 × 10^614

And God knows how much further.

Live code doesn't have a factorial function.

I wrote one that works up to 170!  It uses the traditional iterative method below 60! and the Sterling approx beyond that.  Beyond 170! LC shows an  overflow:


function fact n
   if n < 60 then
         return factorial (n)
   else
      put exp(1) into e
      return   ((n/e)^n) * (sqrt(2*pi*n)) --This is the Sterling approx.
   end if
end fact

function Factorial n
    if n = 1 then
     return 1
      else
       return n * factorial(n-1)
    end if 
end factorial



> 
> Message: 21
> Date: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 23:47:19 -0700
> From: Scott Rossi <scott at tactilemedia.com>
> To: LiveCode Mail List <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>
> Subject: [OT] Google Math Fun
> Message-ID: <CE025187.222BA%scott at tactilemedia.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
> 
> When working in LiveCode, I often use the message box to do quick
> operations and avoid switching out to another application, say a math
> problem for example.  Tonight I needed to do some quick operations while
> searching the Web and I had just a feeling in my gut that Google had taken
> care of this.  This might be old news to some, but sure enough, I typed
> "1136 divided by 2" into the browser search field, and Google returned a
> javascript calculator pre-filled with the answer.
> 
> Nice one, Google.
> 
> (I now expect the day will come when Google will return a page containing
> a picture of a large camera lens and will speak to me in a synthesized
> voice:  "I'm sorry, Scott. I'm afraid I can't do that.")
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Scott Rossi
> Creative Director
> Tactile Media, UX/UI Design
>