Useful factoid

[Melvin Carvalho]

On 11 October 2011 22:32, Robert J. Hansen <rjh at sixdemonbag.org> wrote:
> Accurate to 6%, there are 2**25 seconds in a year.  Worth remembering:
> it makes certain kinds of computations much easier.  (It follows there
> would be about 2**35 seconds in a thousand years, or 2**45 seconds in a
> million.)
>
> E.g., let's say you want to brute-force an 64-bit key on a CPU that can
> do a million (2**20) attempts per second.  This requires, on average,
> 2**63 attempts.  2**63 / 2**20 = 2**43 seconds: 2**43 / 2**45 = 2**-2 =
> a quarter of a million years.
>
> I don't know why it took me so long to notice that: seems like the sort
> of thing I should've noticed a decade ago.  It makes certain kinds of
> computations so much easier.
>
> Anyway, figured I'd throw it out on the off chance there were others who
> hadn't noticed it.

I used to think of there being roughly 2^32 seconds in a lifetime :)

>
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