Answer to October 4, 1999 Problem

From Steve Wentworth
in Recreational and Educational computing

Spelling Challenge

Count, but spell out the values: ONE, TWO, THREE, ...
When do you first encounter the letter "C"?
In other words, what is the first number that contains the letter "C"?

Be careful to give the complete name of the number (like one hundred -- not just hundred!).
Note: the number 123 is one hundred twenty-three, NOT one hundred and twenty-three."

(Perhaps a more challenging problem would have been to give the sequence of all the letters as they appear in the counting numbers, and to find which letters are never used! For example, O, N, E, T, W, H, R, ...).


Solution:

The answer is: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = ONE OCTILLION.

It is interesting to note the order in which the alphabet letters appear:
O N E T W H R F U I V S X G L Y D A M B Q P C.
No number has J, K, or Z in it!! No ZILLION!!!!

Correctly solved by:

1. Tom Marino Winchester, VA
2. Bob Hearn Winchester, VA
3. Elizabeth Cotter Centreville, VA
4. Jon Pence Winchester, VA
5. Jeremy Ramsey Williamsburg, VA
(College of William and Mary)
6. Richard Mocarski Winchester, VA