Okay, Mr. Rhodes, I was with you, and you were making sense, until you
quoted this:
>Suppose that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the
>face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep.
on "Witnessing to Liberals" at
http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/Liberalism.html.
What??
First of all 1 in 1017 is not long odds. I attended a college of 30,000.
That's 3,000 potiential messiahs, given a similar number of prophecies that
cite "Virginia Tech" as the messiah's alma mater, etc (meaning: culturally
& temporally equivalent prophecies to Biblical prophecy).
Secondly, if 1017 silver dollars will cover the state of Texas twice, I'll
EAT the state of Texas.
1017 coins in two layers:
508.5 coins in a layer
22.54 coins per side
(22.55 * 22.55 = 508.5)
Assuming each coin occupies a square space 2 inches on a side:
22.55 coins = 45.1 inches
So one layer of 508.5 coins occupies 2034 square inches. (45.1 * 45.1)
That means that, for 1017 coins to cover the state of Texas twice, the
State of Texas would have to be 45 inches on a side, or have a total
surface area of 169.5 square feet. I think most Texans would complain.
My math isn't the best, but note that if I've underestimated or made a
mathematical error, even an error that makes my answer 1/1000 of the actual
figure, at 168500 square feet ( 32 square miles ), the figure is still
off by 266,968 square miles (according to the state of Texas page at
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/edu/texas/txfacts.htm).
Indeed, at their estimate of 800 miles x 800 miles:
800 miles =
4,224,000 feet =
50,688,000 inches per side.
50,688,000^2 = 2,569,273,344,000,000 square inches or
642,318,336,000,000 square coins (2" on a side = 4 square inches).
you need 642,318,336,000,000 coins on *one* layer to cover the state of Texas.
That's $642,318,336,000,000, or .75 Bill Gates. Two layers is 1.5 Bill Gates.
Do you know what math Mr. Stoner used?
Thanks ---
-- John
Note: the Eating of the state of Texas does not apply if you are merely
fitting all the coins on a map of the state of Texas.
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