How many times will 2,432,902,008,176,640,000 quarters go around the earth?
A Swedish crown is 2.5 cm in diameter, and a USA quarter is 2.4 cm in diameter.
The earth is 6371.315 miles in diameter, one mile is 5280 feet with 12 inches to a foot,
and one inch is 2.54 cm so there are 2.54*12 = 30.48 cm per foot and
30.48*5280 = 160934.4 cm per mile. The circumference of a globe or sphere (also a circle) is calculated by
multiplying the diameter times pi (which is 3.141593) so the circumference of the earth
is 6371.315*3.141593 = 20016.078 miles which in centimeters is 20016.078*160934.4 = 3221275628.383687 cm
(too big for simple calculators - so I used QuickBASIC). Now we must divide this number
by the diameters of the quarter (2.4 cm) or crown (2.5 cm) to see how many coins of these are required to
go around the earth (laid side by side with no space between). Thus, 3221275628.383687/2.4 = 1342198125.159041
quarters to go around the earth and 1288510251.353475 crowns. These number are "only" one billion and some hundreds
of millions (can you say the numbers). Finally, we need to divide the unimaginable, unfathomable, fantastic,
awesome, indescribable, amazing, wondrous, astounding, astonishing, bewildering, baffling, stupefying, overwhelming,
flabbergasting, incredible number of 2432902008176640000 by 1342198125.159041 to get 181262509 or the number of times that
this number of USA quarters will go around the earth is 181 million 262 hundred thousand
five hundred and nine times !!! While 2432902008176640000/1288510251.353475 = 188815106 or the number of times that
the Swedish crowns will go around the earth is 188 million 815 hundred thousand one hundred six
times !!! The reason the Swedish crowns will go around some 7 million more times (7,552,597 to be exact)
is because the crown is 1 mm larger in diameter than a quarter. Do you see why the number of possible
ways to randomize a 20-square puzzle is truly phenomenal (and all the other words I used above)?