How many ways can you arrange 128 tennis balls? Researchers solve an apparently impossible problem

Oh well, there goes this as an interview question.

tl;dr: around 10^250 different arrangements.

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bigdeddu 2 years ago | link

We (humanity) really need to decouple Science from Money. The fact that scientists need to bring in the medias and sell their work with BS like “avalanche prediction” or “larger than the universe” to get funds and keep researching is wrong on so many levels it hurts.
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itistoday edited 2 years ago | link

Anyone else notice what’s wrong with the second paragraph?

The answer, it turns out, is something like 10^250 (1 followed by 250 zeros). The number, also referred to as ten unquadragintilliard, is so huge that it vastly exceeds the total number of particles in the universe.

Hint: subtly incorrect yet frequently stated.
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  jitterted edited 2 years ago | link
  
  I thought the number of fundamental particles in the observable universe was somewhere around 10^85 (plus or minus a few zeros)?
  
  Or is it the lack of the word “observable” before “universe”?
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    itistoday 2 years ago | link
    
    Or is it the lack of the word “observable” before “universe”?
    
    Bingo! You got it! Have an upvote. :)