I Did The Math To See How Long He's Been In Hell and How Long He Has To Go.

[Zev]

In the beginning of the book, Soren states that he found a book on (approximately) the 23^439th day of his confinement to the library. Doing the math (via Wolfram Alpha), that comes to 1.72*10^595 years.

That, of course, is an incredible number when you consider the fact that there have only been about 1.4*10^10 years since the Big Bang.

Master Took (and the author at the end of the book) posit that there are 95^1312000 books in the library. Put into more familiar powers of 10, that comes to 2.34*10^2594733, an impossibly huge number (remember, there are only about 10^80 electrons in our universe).

If he opens a book a second for fourteen hours a day every day of the year, he will need 1.27*10^2594766 years to go through every book in the library (not taking into account walking time).

Considering the fact that he's "only" been there 10^595 years, he still has an mind-numbingly long time to go.

[Helen]

You have done your maths! After reading this I was even more convinced that 'living forever' must be the most frightening, horrific, tortuous existence imaginable and I don't care where it is. Why is eternal life considered so desirable??? Please, please no!

[Silicon]

Although isn't your math based on the premise of having to open all books and the last one he comes to being the one he needs to read?

Chance could have him finding the book in much shorter a time depending on the random placement of the book he's looking for and where he is in the library?

[Zev]

Tim,

You're absolutely correct. My math shows the *maximum* time he should be there. It is entirely possible (although extremely unlikely) that the very next book he picks up is the one.

However, even if you make some realistic assumptions, he's still barely begun his task. For example, let's say he's going to find the book halfway through the task. Half of 1.27*10^2594766 years is still .635*10^2594766 (or 6.35*10^2594765). It's *still* a huge number.

If it helps, think of it this way... let's say he'll get lucky and find the book after searching though only 10% of the books in the library. However, after 10^595 years (which is 10^581 times the current age of the universe), he's still not even .00000001% of the way through his task (and I left a bunch of zeros out of that number).

In other words, unless he's extremely lucky (like hit-the-lottery-every-week-for-a-few-decades type lucky) he's barely begun to scratch the surface of his task.

Zev

[Silicon]

;)

Although I have a more positive outlook on life (or in this case death)..... I'd like to think the next book he opened after the story finished was the one he was looking for.

Improbable yes, impossible - no.

Remember the glass is always half full not half empty? ;)

On a side note....

IF every book contains every possible combination of letters, then we can assume that along side the book containing his life story, would be a book with an accurate portrayal of life the universe and everything....why God made the universe, where its going and how... There would also be a book on every possible subject you could imagine (and more).....so whilst he might not find his own book, look on the bright side, he may well find some decent reads along the way.....

[Silicon]

Also could I add Zev...

If you are looking for an interesting read maths based (and I'm assuming that is a topic of choice for you)

Check out Flatland - A romance of many dimensions...

Its been bought by the Gutenberg Project and is available (legally) for free:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/97

A great sci-fi read from the late 1800's.

[Zev]

Tim wrote: "Remember the glass is always half full not half empty? ;)"

Tim,

I find your optimism infectious, and hate to throw cold water on it... :)

Sure, you can view the glass as half-empty or half-full, but we're not talking about a 50/50 proposition here. It's not even close.

IF every book contains every possible combination of letters, then we can assume that along side the book containing his life story, would be a book with an accurate portrayal of life the universe and everything....why God made the universe, where its going and how... There would also be a book on every possible subject you could imagine (and more).....so whilst he might not find his own book, look on the bright side, he may well find some decent reads along the way.....

Again, you're absolutely correct. But the author makes it very plain that the vast majority of books in the library are utter gibberish. Yes, he may someday find the most fascinating geology text ever conceived (the character was a geologist in life), but the odds against finding such a book are just as astronomical as the odds against finding his own book. The author makes the case very strongly in the book that even finding a single coherent sentence in a book is an incredible find -- to find an entire book that is coherent and in a topic that he's interested in (although, I figure, after all those untold years, almost *anything* would be interesting), let alone anything of "cosmic" importance, would be a find of aeons.

Oddly enough, I'm not really all *that* interested in math. :) However, after I finished reading the book, I was curious as to just how long it would take the main character to find his book. Nonetheless, thank you for the recommendation -- I will check it out.

Zev

[Helen]

Zev, I'm absolutely with you on this. Our poor hero has a long wait and luck wouldn't even have a chance to show her face. I'm impressed with your logic but even without it and as someone who failed her maths 'O' level, I can't help but realise the enormity of the task.

[Silicon]

"Sure, you can view the glass as half-empty or half-full, but we're not talking about a 50/50 proposition here. It's not even close."

Completely agree and its my light hearted optimism shining through! Although when you say it's not a 50/50 chance - whilst you are correct (in the real world).... If I, found myself in a similar situation, I would look at every book I opened as a 50/50 chance, being that it either is or isn't the correct one!

Nice speaking to you, and thanks for indulging my flippancy of tried and tested mathematics and probability!

[Zev]

Helen wrote: "Zev, I'm absolutely with you on this. Our poor hero has a long wait and luck wouldn't even have a chance to show her face. I'm impressed with your logic but even without it and as someone who faile..."

Thanks, Helen. :)

Zev

[Zev]

Tim wrote: "If I, found myself in a similar situation, I would look at every book I opened as a 50/50 chance, being that it either is or isn't the correct one!"


Tim,

I have two lottery tickets for this week's Powerball (jackpot valued at about $90m, original ticket cost $2 each).

Would you like to buy them for $20 each? Based on your principal, each is a 50/50 shot to win (since they're either jackpot winners or not). :)

Zev

[Silicon]

Nah, I'll pass... ;) However faced with the book scenario I'd keep my spirits up with the 50/50 theory!

[Jake]

Zev wrote: "In the beginning of the book, Soren states that he found a book on (approximately) the 23^439th day of his confinement to the library. Doing the math (via Wolfram Alpha), that comes to 1.72*10^595 ..."

Thanks for crunching the numbers, friend!

[Jake]

Helen wrote: "After reading this I was even more convinced that 'living forever' must be the most frightening, horrific, tortuous existence imaginable and I don't care where it is. Why is eternal life considered so desirable??? Please, please no! "

If you have to live it all alone without your loved ones, then yes, it certainly would be. ;)

[Zev]

Thanks for crunching the numbers, friend!

You're welcome, Jake.

Zev