A co-worker IM’ed me:
Jim : If only DEAD people understand hexadecimal, how many people understand hexadecimal?
Mike Mahler: 57005?
Jim: You’re quick!
Mike Mahler: I used a calculator, but I did calculate each digit
Pretty proud of myself for that one.
For the non-geeks in the room: DEAD can be interpreted as either deceased or (in this case) a hexadecimal number. In hexadecimal, each position is an exponent of 16 and values from 10-15 for that position are represented with A-F, with A being 10, B being 11, etc. Therefore DEAD= 13 (which is D) * 16 cubed + 14 (which is E) * 16 squared + 10 (which is 10) * 16 + 13 (which is the last D) or 57,005.
And they say that computer geeks don’t know how to cut loose and have a fun time!
Technorati Tags: hexadecimal
My friend has that quip on a t-shirt, with the answer on the back.
Of course, you know there are 10 types of people in the world – those who understand binary, and those that don’t.
Although someone in the computer lab complained when they saw this written down:
OXFORD
After all, “R” isn’t a hexadecimal digit.
Hope you enjoy these additional geekish thoughts!