Do the Math...

I can remember when doing my math homework was a task that came directly from the CIA torture book. However, I am fascinated by the whole idea of math. Now that we have computers to take care of sum of that "carry the remainder stuff" I like the results.

My friend Connie Kaplan turned me on to a new site called Wolfram Alpha. Although it sounds like the character from a Gothic horror tale it is actually an informational site, somewhat like the Google calculator, but much more detailed and a little faster. You can ask real questions and get results like , how many seconds in 78 minutes. You can type in a date and it will tell you all about the day. That is the kind of stuff that fascinates me but I would never take the time to do the math.

So today I found out that the square root of the number 7 (one of my favorites) is:
2.64575131106459059050161575363926042571025918308245018036833445920106882323028362776039288647454361061506457833849746309574352988862721478442739055588010772271715072972832389229968959486508726070097805420372382802371594110034193911600157852559630594574103515239680271640737379907404158151990440347431945367139973059700505139969223754561609711902737815499163328828770400065757067465196349775208379381811461309087647378659562433057994798128163230705483650107715617946361191553454536477494820593090494849834033989002104786166733279503693924622571705371649257875483229073249267134698029894990803774825110922789556889791980881483409083168525133535829539172211770714414974576907081989444441458972284741400303502353203719487073826293185193640908322805964627837610219597941970890963546958613411817930678162136084910167783532125563346349002189814604225592950366956241869273732771502208752309966469813203212818945478568020950635962446628550076190504139350447437123488522332773625100450596210806723346981200043005144902512062573117591154231944596726049783340434468372563617825504816087940620551148639783305501636947007638777374519511658095220474202064982102444056001996590904100285534069110102261166807200774830703326138428262968095024707946564963443368305197088203480504864472623179308769572248937752111978837600784560390365880942159929250105775368235600172007406523692473209967419778002535708540617794442886681589731184938101638162073015642647016298410996900713413237981884776477699543911119459676703369724524753677401002458265159307752816300547933971750801789952...

Isn't that easier, more fun and a lot more informative than actually using up three sheets of notebook paper to figure it out? I think so... I downloaded it as a Widget on my Mac dashboard.
How many inches from here to the moon? 1.523x10^10 inches

Thanks Connie.
As you were,
Jay