Re: [math-fun] [EXTERNAL] Re: Fun with math: Dividing one by 998001 yields a surprising result

On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 8:06 PM, Ray Tayek <rtayek@ca.rr.com> wrote:

i expected the last line to end in 997998999 instead of 997999000

It does end in 997 998 999 but then the next "three-digit" number is 1000, and after carrying the 1 you can see why it should be 997 999 000. Why can't we invent some three-digit bins that can hold numbers with more than three digits? --Joshua Zucker