3 ms·
The likelihood of 1/2^80 is on the same order as me picking out a thousand grains of sand from the Sahara desert, spreading them randomly out through the desert
by marvin 11y ago
The likelihood of 1/2^80 is on the same order as me picking out a thousand grains of sand from the Sahara desert, spreading them randomly out through the desert and having you pick out those exact thousand grains of sand.
It's a practical impossibility, a philosophical exercise.
- xyzzyz 11y agoNo, it's not the same order. 1/2^80 is the same order as the likelihood of as picking 1000 grains out of 1010, and I'm sure you'll agree that Sahara has more grains that 1010. However, if you picked a single grain from Sahara desert, you'll be only 2 or 3 orders of magnitude off, so one could say that 2^-80 is only slightly easier than finding a particular grain in a Sahara desert.
- tika 11y agoYes, but 1/2^80 is ridiculously large compared to 1/2^1024.