4 ms·
It's pretty easy to estimate if you know - as I think most of us do - that 2^10 = 1024 ~= 1000 8^9 = 2^27, so 1000 * 1000 * 2^7 = 128,000,000.
by JimboOmega 9y ago
It's pretty easy to estimate if you know - as I think most of us do - that 2^10 = 1024 ~= 1000
8^9 = 2^27, so 1000 * 1000 * 2^7 = 128,000,000.
- wickawic 9y agoFor anyone who doesn't know the whole trick: 2^10 ~= 1_000 (2.5% error) 2^20 ~= 1_000_000 (4% error) 2^30 ~= 1_000_000_000 (7% error) Because of exponentials, each power of 5 between is about 1/30 of the way to the next power of 10 (2^5 = 32, 2^15=32_768, etc). With this framework you have good anchors for all 2^(5k), which means you only ever have to divide/multiply by at most 8 to get a good approximation for any power of two. Now you can impress your coworkers with your amazing ability to fudge powers of two in your head.
- iainmerrick 9y agoHuh, that’s a little different from the way I do it! I don’t do it in fives, I just remember that 2^10 ~= 1000, then memorize the powers from 0 to 9. Sounds like GP does the same. (Anyone else play the old DC Heroes RPG?)