Is 19 greater than 800? (Serious Question)

[goodestboy]

Title. Is 19 numerically greater than 800? Having an argument with a friend. May lose 800 dollars.

 

[tkhunny]

Title. Is 19 numerically greater than 800? Having an argument with a friend. May lose 800 dollars.

Are you SURE it's not a clown question?

Take a knife to a number line. Cut it somewhere in between 19 and 20. EVERYTHING on the 20-side is greater than EVERYTHING on the 19-side. Two distinct classes.

 

[topsquark]

Title. Is 19 numerically greater than 800? Having an argument with a friend. May lose 800 dollars.

Maybe you should have bet him the 19 dollars... :shock:

-Dan

Oh, yeah, and 19 is larger. When you make a list of numbers down the page then you'll hit 19 first.

Or you can define the size of a number as the sum of its digits. So 19 --> 1 + 9 = 10. 800 --> 8 + 0 +0 = 8.

 

[tkhunny]

Maybe you should have bet him the 19 dollars... :shock:

-Dan

Oh, yeah, and 19 is larger. When you make a list of numbers down the page then you'll hit 19 first.

Or you can define the size of a number as the sum of its digits. So 19 --> 1 + 9 = 10. 800 --> 8 + 0 +0 = 8.

19

800

Simple. But it did say "numerically".

 

[goodestboy]

Are you SURE it's not a clown question?

Take a knife to a number line. Cut it somewhere in between 19 and 20. EVERYTHING on the 20-side is greater than EVERYTHING on the 19-side. Two distinct classes.

Thank you for the reply. It may have been a bit of a clown quesion, but I was determined to win through backup from hard facts straight from the experts.

Have a nice day

 

[goodestboy]

Maybe you should have bet him the 19 dollars... :shock:

-Dan

Oh, yeah, and 19 is larger. When you make a list of numbers down the page then you'll hit 19 first.

Or you can define the size of a number as the sum of its digits. So 19 --> 1 + 9 = 10. 800 --> 8 + 0 +0 = 8.

Thank you Dan. That's actually a very interesting way of thinking about things like this, I'll have to keep that in mind.

I expected much more hostility to this question. It seems the Math Help boards are a very friendly place

 

[goodestboy]

19

800

Simple. But it did say "numerically".

Thank you my friend. It seems I may actually earn 19 dollars instead

 

[HallsofIvy]

How, exactly, is your friend defining "larger"? He may be planning to do what tkhunny did- write the numeral "19" larger than the numeral "800" and say "see, it's larger!"

 

[Dr.Peterson]

Title. Is 19 numerically greater than 800? Having an argument with a friend. May lose 800 dollars.

It might help if you explained the argument. What is each of you saying, and why do you consider it a serious question?