Game show math question from "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" Reddit r/mathmemes

Mathematically, which of these numbers is the largest?
(A) Number of hours in a year
(B) Number of seconds in a day
(C) Number of days in a decade
(D) Number of minutes in a week
This question was asked on the game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and I saw this on Reddit r/mathmemes / qrncvujlvo
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#math #algebra #mathbasics

[@bprpmathbasics]

Math word problem from "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJiTdoB5gstlrLs

[@Ruija27]

Quick comparison. A: 24x365, no need to work it out because B: 24x3600 is bigger. C: only about 3600, D: under 10,000. So it's B

[@fazom1707]

D is slightly above 10000. Great thought process nonetheless.

[@Asiago9]

I thought about D in comparison to B as times 7 divided by 60 which is 7/60 which is is less than 1, so D

[@dastagirwajahat]

I also thought similarly a) 24*365 b) 24*60*60 =(24*3600) c) 10*365 d) 24*60*7

[@danbsports6760]

@@dastagirwajahat this was my process too, you just compare any two, toss out the loser and compare the winner to the next. Easy to see the difference this way.

24 can be factored out in all cases, except C (which is clearly small). So quite easy calculation.

[@Kyle-nm1kh]

The key is answering it quickly. Best way to do that is compare only 2 at a time, eliminate one, then 2 at a time, eliminate 1, then 2 at a time, eliminate 1. And you dont need to fully calculate, just estimate.

[@SirRebrl]

This, but you don't even need to estimate. A vs C >> multiply days in a year by 24 (A) or 10 (C), eliminate C B vs D >> multiply minutes in a day by 60 (B) or 7 (D), eliminate D A vs B >> multiply hours in a day by 365 (A) or 3600 (B), eliminate A Answer is B. ez pz, no actual multiplication required

[@kazedcat]

​@@SirRebrlYou need one multiplication 60*60=3600 or do a 60*60>(60*10)=600>365. You still need the 60*10 multiplication but multiplying by ten is a lot faster than doing the 60*60 in your head.

[@SirRebrl]

@@kazedcat Seconds in an hour is an easy memorization, no 60*60 needed. Being able to compute the pieces of 60*60 is also memorization. There's no reason to stop memorizing beyond the 0-10 table. Just pick the ones that seem to make sense, like 60*60 for seconds in an hour.

[@marciusnhasty]

It's Millionaire. With 125k in. There's no reason to be quick at that stage. It's better not to be quick at that stage. Focus on first answer that pops in your head. Then patiently try to debunk it with the other three.

[@Kyle-nm1kh]

@@marciusnhasty there is a time limit on millionaire

[@Micboss1000]

It's still pretty easy without pen and paper, but being under pressure by being on a gameshow would likely make it a lt harder.

[@kylen6430]

Yes pressure will make it harder, but on who wants to be a millionaire, there is no time limit, unless they have changed the format. So that helps…

[@mori1bund]

Short cut: a) vs. c) you have more hours in a days than years in a decade (24 vs 10, the rest is the same) -> a) a) vs b) you have more seconds in an hour than days in a year (3600 vs 365, the rest is the same) -> b) b) vs d) you have more minutes in an hour than days in a week (60 vs 7, the rest is the same) -> b)

[@Bismarck-S]

I will never forget that 86400 is the amount of seconds in a day, so a quick comparison between the other products to see if they are above this value earns me $125,000 is under a minute.

[@ZarnonElchris]

Same. I'm a C programmer and I once had write a routine to tell how long a test took based on the date and time of the initial and final data points, which burned 86400 into my brain. Then some quick math/estimation tells me the other values aren't even close to that.

[@frankman2]

Under pressure with an audience and money on the line, I'd say "Egypt, final answer"

[@tharun410]

😂🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@williamniver6063]

Haikus are stupid. They rarely make any sense. Refrigerator.

[@---Sasha---]

ngl i kinda just knew there were 86k seconds per day and the rest are clearly smaller

[@Osirion16]

same, besides 60x60x24 is obviously gonna be biggere than the rest without even calculating the number of seconds in a day, 60x60 is 3600 and then x24 that obviously brings it at least over 36000 which is x10 and 36000 is bigger than the rest

[@calciumgoodness4073]

Found the... programmer?

[@Buphido]

I did it with a pairwise comparison. First, b and d. From min to s it‘s x60, from week to days it‘s x7. So the numerator increased by a larger factor than the denominator, so b is larger. Next, d and a. From h to min it‘s x60, from year to week it‘s x365.25/7 ~= x52. The numerator again increases by more, so d is larger than a, and b is still the largest. Last, a and c. From day to h it‘s x24, from decade to year it‘s x10. Again, the numerator increased by the most. So c < a < d < b.

[@Sideshownicful]

I did it exactly the same, and my mother thought I was a math genius, multiplying all those numbers. I explained how I did it and she she was so confused she thought I was an even bigger genius.

[@genius11433]

Your mother was correct. While it would take a certain amount of smarts to do all that multiplication, it is even smarter to come up with a good strategy to find the answer _without_ doing all that multiplication!

[@anythingatall1471]

your mother is wrong, this is very easy to do. You haven't even seen the ability of some other crazy math geniuses.

[@Sideshownicful]

@@anythingatall1471 It was really more that I was trying to explain what the video explains, but without any visual aid. There is a reason the guy uses a whiteboard.

[@Sityu1991]

I would quickly estimate by rounding to one significant value: A) 20*400 = 8,000 B) 60*60*20 = 72,000 C) 10*400 = 4,000 D) 60*20*10 = 12,000 A) and C) are immediately out, because of magnitude difference. D) is ruled out by the same comparison you used.

[@kadrikarakoc807]

Exactly, there is no point of trying to do exact calculations. Especially when he write that pointless .25 at 1:55 my blood boiled :D

[@feelshowdy]

I like how this question is formulated. You don't need to compute all values but just know how many minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a week/year, etc. And just by looking at the factors, it's easy to compare them, so you can do it in your head.

[@Misteribel]

In your head, this is trivial. Going top to bottom, after each answer, you just keep the largest and continue. Since the factors are the same, there is no need to calculate anything.

[@TheBrad574]

You have an excellent, underrated response. Compare and balance out common factors of 24, 60, and 365 when available.

[@DWestheim]

I honestly find it easier to just calculate those in my head than to juggle ten factors around and comparing their sets.

[@trumpetbob15]

Especially since for most of these calculations, you can round to simpler numbers (since the actual winner isn't close enough where 24 vs 25 will make a difference).

[@Kyle-nm1kh]

​@trumpetbob15 yeah 60x60 = 3600 which I compare to 365x10 aka 10x more than 365

[@compiling]

That's how I did it. For each pair of candidates, figure out which part is common and compare the other parts. E.g. remove N (1440) mins per day to compare 60 secs per min and 7 days per week, so secs per day > mins per week. If there's no time limit then just go slow and double check everything.

[@jamescollier3]

I'm going to agree with BPRP; it not easy without a pen and paper, and harder with an audience on live tv

[@cdkw2]

nice new board! I saw this on J pi math as well!

[@Gremriel]

I feel like he's been banished to the basement for some reason 😅

[@cdkw2]

@@Gremriel I swaer if its because of the cats 🤣

[@Siddhartha.Chatterjee]

go with the smallest unit first: Let our unit be B now D will be B*(7_days)/(60_seconds) (so B>D) next, A will be D*(52_weeks)/(60_minutes) (so B>D>A) lastly, C will be A*(10_years)/(24_hours) (so B>D>A>C)

[@janwillem_vl]

Yes, this is how I did it in my head without multiplying anything. Just compare two items that differ by one order of magnitude of time.

[@NeasCZ]

Before watching the video: A is 365 * 24 B is 3600 * 24 C is 365 * 10 D is 60 * 24 * 7 => simplify to 420 * 24 A is bigger than C, because 24 is bigger than 10. After that, all numbers are multiples of 24, so we can ignore 24 and B is the biggest.

[@joshuanorman2]

I did it by comparing how much the number increases when going from hours to minutes (as an example) then seeing how much the number decreases when going from years to weeks (to complete the example). The number multiplies by 60 and divides by about 50 so hours in a year > minutes in a week, then one is eliminated

[@groofreak]

You grabbed me fully attended whenever you addressed leap year right off the bat.

[@m.h.6470]

As a programmer, who regularly works with unix timestamps, both seconds per day and minutes per day are numbers, that I know by heart (86400 and 1440 respectively). So for me, these 4 answers are: A) 24 * 365 = 6 * 4 * 365 = 6 * 1460 B) 86400 C) 365 * 10 = 3650 D) 7 * 1440 (A) and (D) are very similar and ~10K. (C) is obviously less than all others. Leaving (B) as the correct answer.

[@nanamacapagal8342]

My attempt: A vs C. Start with A: however many hours in a year. Dimensional analysis tells us that to get from A to C we need to multiply by 10 years / 1 decade and 1 day / 24 hours. C = 10/24 * A, so C < A. Same logic for B vs D. To get from B to D you need 7 days / 1 week * minute / 60 seconds. D = 7 / 60 * B, so D < B. A vs B. To get from B to A you need 365 days / year * 1 hour / 3600 days. A = 365 / 3600 * B so A < B. B is the largest of all the quantities.

[@chitlitlah]

That's roughly how I did it. Comparing A to B, I know there are 3600 seconds in an hour but only 365 days in a year, so B is larger by 3600/365 or almost 10 times. Then I compared B to D the same way and got that B was again larger. It's hard to compare B to C directly because I don't know off the top of my head how many seconds are in a day nor do I want to try to multiply 3600 by 24 in my head, but I can more easily compare A and C and find that C is smaller than A which I already know is smaller than B.

[@taflo1981]

I compared the answers from the smallest to the largest units, i.e. B D A C, since those are the easiest to compare. B D: There are 60 seconds in a minute, but only 7 days in a week, thus B is way larger than D. D A: There are 60 minutes in an hour, but only a little more than 52 weeks in a year, so D is slightly larger than A A C: There are 24 hours in a day, but only 10 years in a decade, so A is larger than C. In total, we have B > D > A > C. Of course, we were lucky that these easy comparisons already gave us the full picture. If, for instance, A were larger than D, we would have had to compare A and B directly.

[@quentind1924]

I did by elimination, i compared by how much you multiplied and divided the numbers for each, so A vs B, en C vs the biggest of A and B, then D vs the biggets between A, B and C A vs B : divide by 3600 to multiply by 365, so B is bigger C vs B : multiply by 3652 but divide by 24x3600, so B is bigger D vs B : Divide by 7 to multiply by 60, so B is bigger So B is the correct answer

[@Engy_Wuck]

I'd probably do a rough estimate: A) 24x365 is approximately 20x400 or 8.000 (8760) B) 3600x24 is approximately 4000x20 or 80.000 (86400) C) 365x10 = 3650 plus leap days, but lower than B (and A) so doesn't matter D) 60x24x7 is approximately 100x20x5 = 10.000 (10080) so without knowing the values or doing complicated multiplications B is the correct answer by an order of magnitude.

[@frankman2]

Absolutely the way to go. Rough estimates. Plus discarding 1 vs 1.

[@Mcdfr123]

Most of the hard part of maths, is knowing how to actually work out the equation, not getting the answer.

[@rankinlas]

Brilliant quiz show question. It is fairly straightforward with a little bit of logic and thought, but as he alluded to, with the pressure of the show, prize on offer, etc, then it isn’t as straightforward as one may think. I like 👌

[@QuentinStephens]

Given that there is unlimited time in WWTBAM I'd just work each one out. If there's a time limit then things become more complex. A=24*365 B=24*60*60 C=365*10 + 2 or 3 D=60*24*7 We can rearrange D to get D=24*60*7 to orthoganalise the problem and it then becomes immediately obvious that B is the correct answer.

[@christhefella]

A) 24*365 = 8760 B) 3600*24 = 86400 C) 3650 D) 10080 B>D>A>C ^ B is greater than D which is greater than A, thats also greater than C

[@uggupuggu]

For A, B and D Number of seconds in a day is 86400 (cuz ik) Number of hours in a year = number of seconds in a day * number of days / number of seconds in an hour 86400*365/3600 365/3600 is less than 1 hence A is less than B Number of minutes in a week = Number of seconds in a day * number of days in a week / number of seconds in a minute 86400*7/60 and 7/60 is less than 1 hence B>D>A And c is easy 3650 clearly less than B

[@jrkorman]

About 20 seconds doing it exactly the way you did!

[@AdroMaster]

a) vs c) its easy. Multiplie a) by 24 and "Number of days in 24 years" is equivalent. So c) out. b) vs d) the same. Multiplie b) by 60 and "Number of minutes in 60 days" is equivalent. So d) out. Finally, a) vs b). Multiplie b) by 3600 and "Number of hours in 3600 days" is equivalent. Almost 10 years >>> 1 year, so b) correct answer.

[@jonathanshepherd5515]

I was hurting my brain wondering how I would do all those multiplications on the spot, but you showed you don't actually have to work it out

[@cyrusyeung8096]

If there is no obvious common factor (24, 60 etc.), I will try prime factorization.

[@LNVACVAC]

Rounded factors can be used and it is the best option. You dont even need to end the multiplications. 24 × 365 and 24 x 366, you treat it as 24 x 360 60 x 60 x 24 (365 x 10) + 2 should be treated as 360 x 10 60 x 24 × 7 It becomes obvious pretty quick 60 x 60 x 24 is the largest.

[@darkridge]

I sorted the options in my head from smallest units to largest. Then I pretty quickly realized that as you transition up the unit sizes, you're always dividing by larger numbers than you are multiplying by. For example, to go from seconds in a day, you divide by 60 and multiply by 7 to get the number of minutes in a week. But dividing my 60 and multiplying by 7 means the new quantity will be smaller. The next step is dividing by 60 and multiplying by 52 to get hours in a year. Also a smaller number than before. The last step is dividing by 24 and multiplying by 10 to get days in a decade, which is again, a smaller number than the previous one. Therefore, the option with the smallest units--seconds in a day--is the largest number.

[@kamen42]

On my couch, without cameras and all that, I easily did it in my head. Starting with the smallest units: B) that equals to number B - I don't care what number that is. Next bigger units is D) D) is 7 times longer, but has 60 times longer segments, so D = B * (7/60), so I know D

[@AzureKyle]

What I basically did was first break each down into equations. 24 hours in a day, 365.25 days in a year, 60 mins in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, and 10 years in a decade. Then begin process of elimination. First option is 24*365.25. Second option is 24*60*60, or 60^2, which is 3600, so 24*3600, which is larger than 24*365.25, so that rules out A. Third option is 365.25 *10, which is just moving the decimal place once, about 3.6k, which is not more than 3.6k*24, so C is ruled out. Finally, you have 24*60*7, which is less than 24*60*60, so D is ruled out, leaving B as the solution. You don't even have to do most of the math to figure it out.

[@TinyFord1]

My strategy would literally just be knowing the answer without working it out, because I thought it’s common knowledge

[@bulacano3014]

Let’s ask the musicians A: 525,600 minutes - Rent B: 86,400 seconds in a day - Live Like We’re Dying C: Basically 3,650 D: 60 is greater than 7, B is larger

[@jamesharmon4994]

Except it's hours in a year, not minutes

[@alxk3995]

This is a 125k question?! 😅

[@TrimutiusToo]

Yeah one of the top money questions always challenges mental arithmetic...

[@henrygreen2096]

You must not be aware… WWTBAM contestants notoriously get simple maths questions wrong. One time they polled the ENTIRE AUDIENCE and they all got an algebra problem incorrect.

[@JubeiKibagamiFez]

This reminds me of that one $1000 question from way back when Regis was hosting.

[@jensraab2902]

Consider the following: - The phone a friend lifeline is useless for this one as nobody will be able to make a valuable guess in just 30 seconds (minus the time to read the question). - The audience lifeline is useless for math questions as well as most people suck at math. And if you first elaborate yourself and ask the audience afterwards, you'll have influenced those who are poor at math. - The 50:50 lifeline is the only reliable one - but you have it left, that is. So the contestant probably really needs to work it all out in their heads. That's not that easy under stress, and again, most people are bad at math.

[@seanwilkinson7431]

I worked this out the same way as BPRP. This was a 125k question from this year's celebrity season, where TWO celebrities could work together, and they barely got it right or understood their own logic.

[@gregwochlik9233]

From my programming days, The number of seconds in a day is burned into my memory as 84600. I needed that number for a time calculation.

[@aweeks6649]

I love it when you do this kind of math. It helps me impress my grandkids!

[@paultrickett7717]

As an introduction to large numbers I often use to ask my students 'How long is a million minutes in weeks?'

[@charcolew]

You don't have to compute the exact amounts, you can compare the factors in the given time (while you're 'considering your answer'). Quite easily doable.

[@theresaotoole9141]

Took me just a minute to work it out in my head for answer ''b'' - by multiplying out each and comparison

[@Nikioko]

You won't have the chance to calculate exactly in the show, so you have to make approximations: a) Hours in a year: 25 ⋅ 360 = 9000 b) Seconds in a day: 60 ⋅ 60 ⋅ 25 = 3600 ⋅ 25 = 90000 c) Days in a decade: 10 ⋅ 365 = 3650 d) minutes in a week: 1500 ⋅ 7 = 10500. So, b) is definitely the right answer.

[@tungloilo6068]

All that matters here is the order; no need to work out the products, nor to compare individual factors A: 24 x 365 -> thousands B: 60 x 60 x 24 -> ten thousands C: 365 x 10 -> thousands D: 60 x 24 x 7 -> thousands

[@jerry2357]

Hours in a year is something like 8700 (chemical process plants often assume 8000 hours per year of operation, allowing a few hundred hours for downtime and annual shutdown). Seconds in a day is 24*3600. Days in a decade is about 3650. Minutes in a week is 24*60*7. Seconds in a day must be the correct answer.

[@joe_z]

I kinda already know a few of these numbers off the top of my head. There are 3,650 days in a decade. There are 8,760 or 8,784 hours in a year. There are 86,400 seconds in a day. That leaves minutes in a week. A Bitcoin difficulty readjustment is 2,016 ten-minute blocks, which is supposed to represent two weeks, and therefore a week is 2016 × 10 ÷ 2 = 10,080 minutes. So seconds in a day is the largest, by far.

[@eliacherubini7530]

You do not need any big multiplication for that. You can say that from 'sec in a day' to 'min in a week' you have to multiply by 7 and divide by 60. 7/60 is way under 1 so b) is way bigger than d). From 'min in a week' to 'hours in a year', you have to multiply by 50 and divide by 60, so pretty much the same number, way smaller than b). And then you can do the same thing with c). So b) is the bigger.

[@lilarrin1220]

I just did rough order of magnitude calculations in my head, which is something I do routinely to estimate experiment times at my lab

[@sasukesuite1]

A = 365*24 ~ (60*6) * (24) B = 60*60*24 = (60*6) * (10*24) C = 365*10 ~ (60*6) * (10) D = 60*24*7 = (60*6) * (4*7) The factor of 10*24 is clearly the largest, so B. No pen/paper necessary.

[@sazwolf7089]

ik b= 86,400 secs (coz we had to learn it in school), the rest are pretty simple mind calls which would be, a= 20 * 360 = 7200 (so deff n to close), c= 10* 365= 3650(not counting leap years), d=20*60*7=8400 appx. hence easy to eliminate the rest. takes barley any time is you know how to play with numbers

[@mathmannix]

They should have made C "how many days in a century" because it would be closer but not change the answer. (And that's what I thought they were asking at first when I solved it in my head.) They way I figured it out in my head (but, of course, it would be harder under pressure if I were actually there on the show, as others have said) was this: Start with seconds in a day. To get to minutes in a week, multiply by 7 and divide by 60, so it's only about a ninth as big. To get to hours in a year, multiply by 52 and divide by 60, so roughly around the same number, but slightly smaller. To get to days in a decade, multiply by 10 and divide by 24, so roughly half to a third, again smaller. This makes it clear that seconds in a day is the largest.

[@thedolphin5428]

Rigjtly or wrongly, Intuitively, I thought: Factors column 1 - Seconds, minutes, hours, days. Factors column 2 -- Day, week, year, decade. Multipliers up the whole range 60, 60, 24, 7, 365, 10. The smallest of all the time units is seconds.. These pass very quickly. Next is minutes. Therefore both in combibation will accrue much faster than any otger combination of slower units.

[@victorpaesplinio2865]

A is 24x365 B is 24x3600 C is 3650 not considering leap years D is 24x7x60 As we can see, B is the largest.

[@RyanLewis-Johnson-wq6xs]

It’s in my head. B)

[@dorderre]

You don't even need to know the exact number. Just compare two lines and eliminate the smaller result: More hours in a day than years in a decade --> hours win More minutes in an hour than weeks in a year --> minutes win More seconds in a minute than days in a week --> seconds win overall

[@scmtuk3662]

My strategy for this would be to pick the largest number. That's it. So, there are: 8760 or 8784* hours in a year* 86400 seconds in a day 3651 or 3652** days in a decade 10080 minutes in a week Therefore, the answer is B: Number of seconds in a day *8784 if it's a leap year **10 x 365 = 3650, but there can be either 1 or 2 leap years. Most of the time, there will be 2 leap years in any 10 year period, but if for example, the 10 year period falls between 2097 and 2107, then only 2104 is the only leap year in that period, as 2100 would not be a leap year

[@Yilmaz4]

interesting strategy. you should consider publishing your work. this may be a breakthrough in math!

[@Ruija27]

you could save time by ignoring lead years and leap days, they do not matter for the result. you do not even need the exact values, just compare the "factors". 24x365 is obviously less than 24x3600. 10x365 and 1440x7 are too small.

[@kitchenasmr6876]

Without doing any multiplication, just take note of the number of digits being multiplied. The one with the most digits is the biggest. If multiple have the same number of digits (not including fractional components), then you only need to compare those.

[@wohlhabendermanager]

Haven't watched the video yet, so here's my thought process: First of all, I'm not doing the precise math, but I wouldn't do that in a game show either. I'm just roughly estimating. I know there are 3600 seconds in an hour (I work as a software developer and often have to deal with times and dates, so that's just something I happen to know through repetition, lol). We have 24 hours in a day, so that's more than 72,000 seconds in a day. Number of hours in a year, I'm assuming 360 days in a year (it's actually a "bank year" because it's easier to calculate with: 12 months with 30 days equal 360 days), and 24 hours in a day. We end up with roughly 7200 hours, which is far less than seconds in a day. Number of days in a decade, 10*365=3650, which is far less than seconds in a day. Minutes in a week. I should know the minutes in a day (see above), but for some reason that's a number I don't know that one by heart. Simplified 20*60 = 1200 minutes a day, times 7 is 8400, which is also far less than seconds in a day. So no need for me to do any precise calculations. Now that I have watched the video: For me it's easier to remember the results, so that's why I estimated everything, instead of doing the solution in the video. Which of course is much simpler. But as you said, without pen and paper, sitting in a hot chair... that would sure be tough. :D

[@KoyasuNoBara]

And then there's me, sitting here with no pressure, getting the answer wrong because I multplied 60*6 instead of 60*60 and went "oh, 360 is smaller than 365, so A is bigger"

[@Darth_Maramu]

Like many people in the coments I sorted from smallest unit of time to largest, but in order to do it mentally I equalized units to compare more easily, thus: b) 60*60*24 d) 60*24*7 a) 24*7*52 c) 7*52*10 being 60 seconds in a minute as well as minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52(ish) weeks in a year, and 10 years in a decade. The leap year is negligible, because it will never get to fill an entire 53rd week which would still be smaller than 60.

[@florianbasier]

Oh that's nice. A-24*365 B-3600*24 C- 365.25*10 D-24*60*7. A, B, D all have a 24 factor in them so comparing them is the same as comparing 365, 3600 and 420 so B is the winner for these three. Now C is about 360*10 while B is 360*10*24 so easy comparison here again

[@LeeCanPotato]

I noticed that 24 divides three of them. I then ignored the 24 and just did the rest of the math in my head which was easy, giving 3600 (x the missing 24) for B. C we can just do in or head (3650), but then need to get rid of a factor of 24 which is then clearly less than 3600.

[@opsatr]

Yup that's pretty much what I did. Didn't actually compute to final totals. Just looked at factors and which would have bigger factors compared to each other.

[@bytemark6508]

compare 1 by 1 choose winner for the next round: A = 24*365 < B = 24*60*60 B = 24*3600 > C = 365*10 B = 24*3600 > D=24*7*60 > looks like B

[@carultch]

Choices A and B, I have memorized, because I've used them both for work plenty of times. Days in a decade is as simple as appending a zero to 365, to get 3650. Technically, it should be 3652, accounting for the most probable number of leap days in a decade, but ignoring leap days is close enough for government work. Both choices A & B are greater than this. Minutes in a day, I have memorized, so it's as simple as multiplying by 7. It's close to 1400, so I multiply 14*7 to get 9800, which is much less than choice B. Conclusion: choice B, which is about an entire order of magnitude greater than all the others.

[@KipIngram]

You don't just KNOW that there are 86400 seconds in a day? I mean, as a ready to go fact? I thought most people knew that.

[@TrimutiusToo]

Yeah i was able to do this deduction in my head before watching the video through... But would i be able to do it under pressure i don't know😊

[@someonespadre]

Without a calculator, 24*365 hours in a year, 3600*24 seconds in a day, 36,500 days in a decade, 60*24*7 minutes in a week. I would guess B.

[@oenrn]

A) 365 * 24 B) 60 * 60 * 24 C) 365 * 10 D) 60 * 24 * 7 You don't even have to do the calculations to see which one is clearly bigger.

[@ExistenceUniversity]

Exactly what I did

[@highelectricaltemperature]

I got the right answer by estimating about how many digits each product would be -- 1,000

[@AldoInza]

You can also just count the digits in the equation as a fast way to do that

[@highelectricaltemperature]

@@AldoInza Yeah that's what I did

[@nicholasharvey1232]

I knew that a day had 86,400 seconds. It's also easy to calculate that a decade has 3,650 days (actually 3,652 or 3,653, due to leap years), ruling out C as an answer. So I look at A and D to seeing if one of those quantities could be greater than 86,400. For D, I know that there are 168 hours in a week. Multiplying this by 60 will not get us to 86,400, since multiplying by 100 will only get us to 16,800. Therefore D is ruled out. Finally we go to A. We know this number is 365 (or 366) times 24. Again, even multiplying either 365 or 366 by 100 will not get us to 86,400. Therefore neither A, C, nor D is greater than B. I choose B... and that's my final answer.

[@learningisfun2108]

Not sure I could do this in my head. Easy on paper. Love how he did this without any calculations, just comparing 👍

[@DarthMohawk1]

I happen to have "86,400 seconds per day" as a memorized number, so if I was on Millionaire, I would start with B and then compare options A, C and D against it. Not too tricky, just have to be careful.

[@CatNolara]

Ok, haven't watched yet, but this would be my way: Every answer is a fraction of two numbers, so comparing the numbers on top and below the fraction line and combining the results will give you a factor by which one is bigger than the other. That makes the relations between the answers as such: - days in a decade compared to hours in a year would be 24 times more and 10 times less, so the first is higher by a factor of 2.4 - number of seconds in a day is 3600 times more and 365 times less than that, so it's higher by a factor of almost 10 - number of minutes in a week is 7 times more and 60 times less, so it's lower by a factor of roughly 8.6 By that logic B must be the right answer

[@MsBombastik]

multiplying in wrong answer instantly

[@nathangoedeke694]

a) 24x365 has four digits (10^1 * 10^2) b) 3600x24 has five digits (10^3 * 10^1) c) 365x10 has four digits (10^2 * 10^1) d) 60x24x7 has three digits (10^1 * 10^1 * 10^0) So b is my choice, no pen or paper necessary

[@draheim90]

Yep I tried answering in my head first by with (B) made the mental mistake of saying 60x60 was 360 which made the options a lot closer and harder to get the (wrong) answer.

[@MadaraUchihaSecondRikudo]

Seconds in a day is 86400, hours in a year is roughly 7k, minutes in a week is roughly 10k, days in a decade is 3650, seconds in a day wins :D

[@TomMarAlem1987]

I would think in terms of Cantor sets. The number of integers is less than the number of rational fractions. Which is in turn less than the irrational numbers. And we get more granular as we zoom in on the number line. So it has to be B, seconds in a day.

[@LNVACVAC]

How much time they give you to answer? This can be easily answered between 30 a 45 seconds by anyone with IQ estimated above 122 (SD 15). At a math competition kids will answer this in less than 20 seconds. You round everything and you don't even need to end the multiplications. 24 × 365 and 24 x 366, you treat it as 24 x 360 60 x 60 x 24 (365 x 10) + 2 should be treated as 360 x 10 60 x 24 × 7 It becomes obvious pretty quick 60 x 60 x 24 is the largest.

[@itoshiigrauben]

I just recited that a day has 86400 seconds while other 3 answers are 4 digit numbers or barely larger than 10000

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

C is obviously less than A(10 times more, 24 times less), and D is obviously less than B (7 times more, 60 times less). Which leaves B and A.There are 3600 seconds in an hour, and 365 days in a year. Therefore B is the correct answer.

[@komodosp]

From what I remember, Who Wants doesn't put any time limit on answering so there's really no excuse for not getting this one!

[@frankman2]

I was thinking about that. Though there must be some sort of limit. People probably want to go home after an hour.

[@nissemus]

3:03 Let you know if we are on the what?

[@snappy4212]

B is 86400 i just happen to know it. But even if I didn’t just think 24*3600 A is 24*365 so automatically less. C is just 3650 pretty simple, and D is less than B because to go from seconds per day to minutes per week I think of it like you divide by 60 first to make the second minutes and then multiply by 7 to make the day into a week. So you basically multiply it by 7/60 which makes it less than what we started with (seconds per day) so yeah it’s B. Pretty easy questions for 125k

[@DaHaiZhu]

My strategy would be to phone-a-friend, bprp, and have him work it out on the white while I wait 😂

[@henrytang2203]

You can approximate by rounding each number to 1 SF. A) 24 x 365 = 20 x 400 = 8,000 B) 3600 x 24 = 4000 x 20 = 80,000 C) 365 x 10 = 400 x 10 = 4,000 D) 60 x 24 x 7 = 60 x 20 x 10 = 12,000

[@Jackkenway]

I was torn between B and D, had to do some mental math to get the right answer, but like bprp said if I was in the show, put in the spot like that, I don't think I would've got it. lol

[@reggiedixon2]

I cheated, I used a programming language for years where knowing a day is 86400 seconds is part of using it.

[@VICTISGto]

E) Planck Times in a Galactic Year

[@Faizan29353]

A. 24.365 B. 24.3600 C. 24.365 [replace 10 to 24 to match factor) D. 24.600 [24.60.7 (round 7 to 10) = 24.60.10 = 24.600] So just from an overview 3600 is way larger than 365 and 600 So B will be the largest.

[@yurenchu]

B. This is easy, without actually calculating out any of the answers and without even using pen and paper; just doing it in my head. Consider the number of minutes in a day. Don't calculate it, just call it M. To get the number of seconds in a day (= B), we must multiply M by 60. To get the number of minutes in a week (= D), we must multiply M by 7 . So B is greater than D . This eliminates D. The number of days (= C) in a decade is roughly 365 * 10 = 3650 , which is roughly the number of seconds in an hour (60*60 = 3600 seconds in an hour), so it's clearly less than the number of seconds in a day (= B). So this eliminates C. Now consider the number of hours in a day, let's call it N . To get the number of hours in a year (= A), we must multiply N by (approximately) 365 . To get the number of seconds in a day (= B), we must multiply N by 3600. Hence B is greater than A. This eliminates A. So the answer to B is the largest.

[@martinknows]

I saw this title and had to waste a minute to say, “who effin gives a flying fluke?” Carry on.

[@karhukivi]

If it's the fastest finger question, it will have to be intuition - seconds are small, so B might be the first, but how to order the other three in the time available? If it's a question for say £125K, then you can compare pairs but it won't be easy under the pressure of a game show, audience etc.

[@jefftaylor1186]

It has to be seconds in a day. Because there’s 3600 seconds in an hour and when you multiply that by 24 you get like 86,000 something. That’s a much bigger sum than the rest of the figures. It has to be. I can figure that out without even doing the math.

[@fabiodemiguel4163]

I would say C, because it is the biggest amount of time measured in this question. Numerically, B is the obvious answer. Guessing what the the author means with the word "mathematically" is the important part.