Speaking of old guys, and old guys and young guys, this is what Eugene had to say when he was younger, meeting someone younger still:
http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/anecdotes.htm#Wiedmann ----- Original Message ----- From: Eugene McDonnell <[email protected]> Date: Friday, July 24, 2009 16:24 Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] 2147483648 To: Programming forum <[email protected]> > > On Jul 16, 2009, at 11:25 AM, Raul Miller wrote: > > > On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 1:54 PM, Roger Hui<[email protected]> > wrote:>> In "At Work and Play in the Fields of J" (1993) > >> http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/AWPFJ/5.htm > >> Eugene McDonnell posed the problem, > >> > >> Write a numeric constant with value 2147483648 (2^31) > >> in the fewest characters. > > > > I have found two occupying eight characters, but > > I have not yet convinced myself that shorter sequences > > are not possible. > > > > FYI, > > > > -- > > Raul > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > ------- > > For information about J forums see > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > I'm really sorry, but I no longer remember what the result > is. I'm > pushing age 84, and I'll have to leave it to some great solver > who > might solve it in the future -- but believe it or else, there is > an > answer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
