The-final-countdown_17099

The Final Countdown A treatise on “52!” By

David Devlin A Free gift from www.AMGmagic.com 2018

Forward This is not a new trick. In fact, other than the fact that the topic centers around a deck of cards, this really has nothing to do with magic at all. So, why is this little eBook being offered from an online magic shop? The answer is because it makes for great presentational inspiration for card tricks. Especially card tricks in which the spectator gets to shuffle the deck such as “The Mockingbird” by Max Maven and “Psych-Go!” by me, David Devlin. However, if you are not a magician it is being offered to you simply because the information is really freakin' cool. This essay will discuss a number. A big number. A huge number. An almost unpronounceable number. Actually, there are no words in the English language or (arguably) any other language to express just how extraordinarily, frightfully, and tremendous this number is. This is a number so enormous and so long that we as human beings actually cannot truly comprehend its true nature. Most people cannot even grasp the concept of much more than a trillion. That is not a criticism of you or anyone else. It is simply a fact of human beings. So, as you read this essay do not feel bad that you cannot truly fathom the number. I can't, you can't, and neither can anyone else in this world. That all said, what I have done here is made reasonable, yet still difficult to truly imagine, comparisons of things that we can at least visualize to this number. These are things such as grains of sand, time, speed, distances, and single sheets of paper. While even the numbers involved with these things are so enormous that we cannot mentally interpret them, they pale in comparison to the number of ways in which a single deck of 52 cards can be arranged. This will help you explain, though truly incomprehensibly, to your audiences just how many different ways a deck of cards can be arranged, thus in effect it can make the card trick seem more impossible and the condition of the order of the cards totally random and unknown after the spectator gives the deck so much as a single shuffle. One last note before we start, in the article I first wrote out the numbers in their numerical- form, and then in parenthesis I wrote out the number in word-form. This way you can see the number and at the same time (try to) pronounce the number. These numbers are huge and might seem to be made up, but I assure you that they are very real and the math work is correct. The math in this treatise was checked, rechecked, re-rechecked, and re-re-rechecked not only by me, but by a member of MENSA and also by a mathematician. I promise you that everything here is accurate, but do keep in mind that some of the numbers dealing with “Time” are off by a tiny bit as time continues to move forward. Ok. Enough talk. Let's delve into the incomprehensible number known as, “Fifty Two Factorial”.

The Final Countdown Look at a standard deck of playing cards. It consists of 52 separate pieces of pasteboard. There are 52 different representations, 13 values. There are aces, the numbers 1-10, Jacks, Queens, and Kings. There are 4 different suits, Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds. With just those 52 cards a person can play 24 different games, plus all of the many variations of those 24 games. You can put them into the spokes of a bicycle and imagine that you are riding a motorcycle. You can toss them into a hat, or throw them long distances, like a guy named Ricky Jay. You can also learn any of the millions of card tricks invented over hundreds of years. A deck of cards is an amazing thing. But have you ever wondered just how many ways a single deck of 52 cards can be arranged? 100? 1,000? 1,000,000? What about 100,000,000,000 (One hundred billion)? Well, that last number would be a good start, but the actual number is “52!”. This is a number called, “Fifty-Two Factorial”. It rounds down to the number “8” followed by 67 zeroes. But if you want to really get specific, the actual number is: 80,658,175,170,943,872,120,872,688,408,184,384,976,168,856,728,048,776,008,904,128,936,464

(That reads, Eighty unvigintillion, six hundred fifty-eight vigintillion, one hundred seventy-five novemdecillion, one hundred seventy octodecillion, nine hundred forty-three septendecillion, eight hundred seventy-two sexdecillion, one hundred twenty quindecillion, eight hundred seventy-two quattuordecillion, six hundred eighty-eight tredecillion, four hundred eight duodecillion, one hundred eighty-four undecillion, three hundred eighty-four decillion, nine hundred seventy-six nonillion, one hundred sixty-eight octillion, eight hundred fifty-six septillion, seven hundred twentyeight sextillion, forty-eight quintillion, seven hundred seventy-six quadrillion, eight trillion, nine hundred four billion, one hundred twenty-eight million, nine hundred thirty-six thousand, four hundred sixty-four) Before getting into the “visual” examples of just how big that number is, let’s quickly discuss how that number is achieved. To get a “Factorial” (mathematically indicated by “n!”), you take the total number of objects and multiply it by one less than you have. That sum is then multiplied by one less again, and so on until reaching “one”. For example, go get a deck of cards and remove any ace through king (suits are irrelevant). Hold those 13 cards in your hand, and deal the ace to the table. There is now one card on the table, so obviously there is only one way to arrange that card. Now deal the deuce next to the ace. There are now two cards on the table. Two times one is two, so there are two ways those cards can be arranged. Now, deal the trey. There are now three cards on the table. Three times two times one equals six (3 x 2 x 1 = 6). So, those three cards can be arranged into six combinations.

Now, things are going to get really amazing. Deal the four to the table, and do the math. If your math is correct, you know that there are 24 combinations that those cards can be arranged. Now, add the five to the group (a standard hand of poker). The math will tell you that there are 120 ways to arrange those cards. Six cards can be arranged into 720 combinations, and all 13 cards can be arranged into 6,227,020,800 (Six billion, two hundred twenty seven million, twenty thousand, eight hundred) combinations. By now you should see where this is headed. Add the other 39 cards and you get, “52 Factorial” (or “52!”). Now that we understand how 52 Factorial is achieved, let’s look at just exactly how big that number actually is. The U.S. Playing Card Company was founded in the year 1867. They are the largest manufacturer of playing cards in the world. They are not able to give me a specific number of decks that they print each year because it varies from year to year, but encyclopedia.com reports that they sell 100,000,000 decks to consumers per year, and 20,000,000 to casinos. Thus, the largest card company sells 120,000,000 (One hundred twenty million) decks per year. Currently, there are 146 card manufacturers in the world. Let’s assume that they all sell that many decks per year. They don’t, but let’s pretend that they do. That would mean that 17,520,000,000 (seventeen billion, five hundred twenty million) decks are sold per year. I am certain that these companies print more decks than they sell (or they would run out of inventory). So let’s assume a hypothetical number of decks printed each year. Let’s use a ridiculous number, a number that far exceeds the amount of decks printed by all 146 card companies combined each year. Let’s use the number, “100,000,000,000,000,000,000” (One hundred quintillion) . In miles, that is six times the distance from Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy. More on that later). I can guarantee that is more than the number of decks they print each year. In order to print that many decks in one year, those combined companies would have to print just over 190,258,751,902,587 decks per minute, non-stop, 24-7-365. (One hundred ninety trillion, two hundred fifty-eight billion, seven hundred fifty-one million, nine hundred two thousand, five hundred eighty-seven) In order to print 52 Factorial decks of cards, those companies would have to print that many decks at that rate for roughly 806,581,751,709,439,976,808,312,456,408,808,224,192,784,976,280 years! (Eight hundred six quattuordecillion, five hundred eighty-one tredecillion, seven hundred fifty-one duodecillion, seven hundred nine undecillion, four hundred thirty-nine decillion, nine hundred seventy-six nonillion, eight hundred eight octillion, three hundred twelve septillion, four hundred fifty-six sextillion, four hundred eight quintillion, eight hundred eight quadrillion, two hundred twenty-four trillion, one hundred ninety-two billion, seven hundred eighty-four million, nine hundred seventy-six thousand, two hundred eighty) But that number represents full decks of 52 cards. Let’s look at how long it would take them to print 52 Factorial individual cards. That would equal 1,882,316,419,127,567,924,401,539,213,588 cards

printed per year-

(One nonillion, eight hundred eighty-two octillion, three hundred sixteen septillion, four hundred nineteen sextillion, one hundred twenty-seven quintillion, five hundred sixty-seven quadrillion, nine hundred twenty-four trillion, four hundred one billion, five hundred thirty-nine million, two hundred thirteen thousand, five hundred eighty-eight)

-for roughly 42,850,486,999,999,984,712,488,920,928,248,288,920 years. (Forty-two undecillion, eight hundred fifty decillion, four hundred eighty-six nonillion, nine hundred ninety-nine octillion, nine hundred ninety-nine septillion, nine hundred eighty-four sextillion, seven hundred twelve quintillion, four hundred eighty-eight quadrillion, nine hundred twenty trillion, nine hundred twenty-eight billion, two hundred forty-eight million, two hundred eighty-eight thousand, nine hundred twenty) Now, let’s try to put that into perspective with a very hypothetical scenario. Let’s suppose that about 13.5 billion years ago, God placed an order for 52 Factorial individual playing cards. After placing that order, God hung up the phone, went out, and caused the “Big Bang”, thus creating the Universe. At the moment of the Big Bang, the cards began printing in the time and in the amounts that we just discussed. His order has not finished being printed yet. The card company has 2,541,127,165,822,216,192,616,032,888,216,760,072,504 more cards to print. (Two duodecillion, five hundred forty-one undecillion, one hundred twenty-seven decillion, one hundred sixty-five nonillion, eight hundred twenty-two octillion, two hundred sixteen septillion, one hundred ninety-two sextillion, six hundred sixteen quintillion, thirty-two quadrillion, eight hundred eighty-eight trillion, two hundred sixteen billion, seven hundred sixty million, seventy-two thousand, five hundred four) Continuing at the printing rate that we have assumed, God should receive his order in roughly 1,350,000,000 more years. (One billion, three hundred fifty million) 52 Factorial is equal to 1,551,118,753,287,382,528,328,200,048,328,256,760,208,600,728,712,512,008,896,624,328,608

standard decks of 52 playing cards. (One unvigintillion, five hundred fifty-one vigintillion, one hundred eighteen novemdecillion, seven hundred fifty-three octodecillion, two hundred eighty-seven septendecillion, three hundred eighty-two sexdecillion, five hundred twenty-eight quindecillion, three hundred twenty-eight quattuordecillion, two hundred tredecillion, forty-eight duodecillion, three hundred twenty-eight undecillion, two hundred fifty-six decillion, seven hundred sixty nonillion, two hundred eight octillion, six hundred septillion, seven hundred twenty-eight sextillion, seven hundred twelve quintillion, five hundred twelve quadrillion, eight trillion, eight hundred ninety-six billion, six hundred twenty-four million, three hundred twenty-eight thousand, six hundred eight )

If God needed these cards ASAP and put a rush on the order, whichever card manufacturer God chose to place the order with would have to have had 1,000,000,000,000,000

(One trillion) printing facilities on each and every star in our galaxy, with 1,000,000,000,000,000 (One trillion) printers in them, with each of these printers printing 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (One quintillion) decks of cards per second since the Big Bang is said to have happened, in order for God to have received his order right about...now! Moving right along,if you were going to line up 52 Factorial standard-sized playing cards, each one of which is 3.5 inches long, the trail of cards would circle the Earth 178,922,305,170,682,976,112,736,200,368,264,504,472,280,304,088,008,472,112,968 times. (One hundred seventy-eight octodecillion, nine hundred twenty-two septendecillion, three hundred five sexdecillion, one hundred seventy quindecillion, six hundred eighty-two quattuordecillion, nine hundred seventy-six tredecillion, one hundred twelve duodecillion, seven hundred thirty-six undecillion, two hundred decillion, three hundred sixty-eight nonillion, two hundred sixty-four octillion, five hundred four septillion, four hundred seventy-two sextillion, two hundred eighty quintillion, three hundred four quadrillion, eighty-eight trillion, eight billion, four hundred seventytwo million, one hundred twelve thousand, nine hundred sixty-eight.)

(That is a lot of frequent flier miles!) That means that if those cards were stacked standing end on top of end there would be enough stacks to reach from the Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy (2.537 million light years away, which is equal to fifteen quintillion miles away) and back again 148,518,310,000,000,000,192,736,424,112,688,096,376,848,280 times. (One hundred forty-eight tredecillion, five hundred eighteen duodecillion, three hundred ten undecillion, one hundred ninety-two septillion, seven hundred thirty-six sextillion, four hundred twenty-four quintillion, one hundred twelve quadrillion, six hundred eighty-eight trillion, ninety-six billion, three hundred seventy-six million, eight hundred forty-eight thousand, two hundred eighty )

Speaking of trips to the Andromeda Galaxy, if 52 Factorial was viewed as miles, you could go there and back 2,688,605,839,031,463,912,120,672,336,944,624,272,792,632,920,600 times. (Two quindecillion, six hundred eighty-eight quattuordecillion, six hundred five tredecillion, eight hundred thirty-nine duodecillion, forty undecillion, six hundred seventy-five decillion, eight hundred sixteen nonillion, five hundred sixty-eight octillion, five hundred ninety-two septillion, four hundred forty sextillion, one hundred thirty-six quintillion, three hundred twentyeight quadrillion, one hundred sixty-eight trillion, eighty-eight billion, six hundred ninety-six million, three hundred forty-four thousand, one hundred eighty-four ) Even if you traveled at the speed of light (which is 670,600,000 miles per hour, which translates into just under six trillion miles per year) it would still take you about five million years to make a single round trip. In Mary Wolcott Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein”, Victor is condemned for “playing God”, because he was trying to create life from dead tissue. I do not recommend following in his footsteps, but you can also “play God” with nothing more than a deck of 52 playing cards. Pick up a deck of cards that is already shuffled to the point that the order is genuinely random (about seven riffle shuffles from “new-deck order”. Give it a single shuffle. Guess what…you now hold

in your hands, something that has never existed before in the entire history of our galaxy, and which will more than likely never exist again. You have created and hold in your hand a deck of cards that has been shuffled into an order that has never existed before in the entire history of the universe! That is, of course, statistically speaking, but it is so extremely likely that it is nearly guaranteed. Let’s now move on to other visuals of 52 Factorial that does not include playing cards. 52 Factorial is more than the number of grains of natural sand found on the entire Earth (estimated at roughly (very roughly, but let’s go with it) 7,500,000,000,000,000,000 (seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion). In order to gather 52 Factorial grains of sand, you would need to collect all of the grains of sand off of the Earth 10,754,423,356,125,852,648,480,688,344,776,496,088,168,528,680,400 times before having enough grains of sand to equal 52 Factorial! (Ten quindecillion, seven hundred fifty-four quattuordecillion, four hundred twenty-three tredecillion, three hundred fifty-six duodecillion, one hundred twenty-five undecillion, eight hundred fifty-two decillion, six hundred forty-eight nonillion, four hundred eighty octillion, six hundred eighty-eight septillion, three hundred forty-four sextillion, seven hundred seventy-six quintillion, four hundred ninety-six quadrillion, eighty-eight trillion, one hundred sixty-eight billion, five hundred twenty-eight million, six hundred eighty thousand, four hundred) In an effort to give that some perspective, let us suppose that the estimate is off by just a tad. Let us suppose that the actual number of grains of sand on Earth is 7,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (Seven septillion, five hundred sextillion), which is one million times the official estimate. In order to gather enough grains of sand to equal 52 Factorial, you would still have to gather all of the sand on Earth 10,754,423,356,125,854,696,632,336,896,024,448,936,344,752 times. Say it with me (Ten tredecillion, seven hundred fifty-four duodecillion, four hundred twenty-three undecillion, three hundred fifty-six decillion, one hundred twenty-five nonillion, eight hundred fifty-four octillion, six hundred ninety-six septillion, six hundred thirty-two sextillion, three hundred thirty-six quintillion, eight hundred ninety-six quadrillion, twenty-four trillion, four hundred forty-eight billion, nine hundred thirty-six million, three hundred forty-four thousand, seven hundred fifty-two) But it is not easy to imagine a number as big as 52 Factorial, that many cards, that distance, or that many grains of sand. Most people cannot even comprehend a measly 100,000,000,000,000 (one hundred trillion) so let’s look at a scenario proposed by the late author, Douglas Adams in his book, “The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”. Douglas gave the scenario, but not the actual amounts, lengths, and times his scenario required to be accomplished. That is what I have done my very best to do here. Imagine a countdown timer set to a time of 52 Factorial seconds. Each second represents one unique arrangement of the deck of 52 cards. Stand directly on the Earth’s equator, and start the countdown timer. This timer will never stop until it reaches zero. Now, don’t move. Not even a little bit. Stand still for 1,000,000,000 (yes, one billion years). As soon as that billion years is over, take a single step (assume a step equals two feet). Now, wait another one billion years. At

the end of that billion years, take another step. Wait another 1,000,000,000 years, and then take a third step. Keep repeating this until you have made it all the way around the Earth. Yes, you have the ability to walk on water, so don’t worry about bodies of water…just yet. The Earth is 24,901 (twenty four thousand, nine hundred one) miles around, which translates into 131,477,280 (one hundred thirty one million, four hundred seventy seven thousand, two hundred eighty) feet, so you have taken 65,738,640 (sixty five million, seven hundred thirty eight thousand, six hundred forty) steps. You have spent 65,738,640,000,000,000 (sixty-five quadrillion, seven hundred thirtyeight trillion, six hundred forty billion) years making your way around the planet. Remember that the “52! Timer” has been counting down the seconds of all of this time, and it is not stopping for any reason other than it finally reaches zero. Now, take a single drop of water out of the Pacific Ocean, and set it aside. A single drop of water is equal to 0.0000132 of a gallon. Thus, in one gallon of water there are about 75,757.86 drops. To empty a single gallon of water drop by drop, at a rate of one drop per second, it would take just over 21 hours to empty that gallon. But we are not talking about one little measly gallon. We are talking about the Pacific Ocean, and there are about 187,562,157,174,285,344,576 (one hundred eighty-seven quintillion, five hundred sixty-two quadrillion, one hundred fifty-seven trillion, one hundred seventy-four billion, two hundred eighty-five million, three hundred forty-four thousand, five hundred seventy-six )

gallons of water in that ocean. That means that there are approximately 14,200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (fourteen septillion, two hundred sextillion) drops of water in the Pacific Ocean. That is important information, so don’t forget it. Ok, now start the entire process of walking around the planet, one step at a time, taking one step every one billion years. At the end of those 65,738,640,000,000,000 years (sixty-five quadrillion, seven hundred thirty-eight trillion, six hundred forty billion), remove yet another drop of water out of the Pacific Ocean, and set it aside. Repeat this process over and over and over again until the entire Pacific Ocean has been emptied! Wait. Where are you going? You’re not done yet. Not by a long-shot. Once the ocean has been emptied, place a single sheet of standard printer paper on the ground, refill the ocean, and begin that same process all over again. Once you have drained the Pacific Ocean at a rate of a single drop every 65,738,640,000,000,000 years (sixty-five quadrillion, seven hundred thirty-eight trillion, six hundred forty billion), place another piece of paper on the ground on top of the one placed there previously. Don’t forget: the timer is still counting down the seconds of all of this time, and is not stopping for any reason whatsoever! Before going further, let’s look at the measurement of the thickness of a standard piece of paper. A single sheet of paper is 0.003 inches thick, which means that you need 333 pieces of paper plus a piece of paper that is roughly 0.0003 inches thick to make a stack of paper that is one inch thick. Once again, this is important information to this demonstration.

Ok, now back to our exercise of walking around the planet, taking a single drop out of the ocean until the ocean is dry, placing the piece of paper on top of the last, filling the ocean back up, and repeating. You will repeat this process over and over until the stack of paper reaches from the Equator of the Earth all the way to the Sun! That is a distance of 93,000,000 (Ninety three million) miles. That means that the sun is 5,892,480,000,000,000 (five quadrillion eight hundred ninety two trillion 480 billion) inches away from the Earth. This means that you are going to make a stack consisting of a tad bit over 1,962,195,840,000,000,000 (one quintillion, nine hundred sixty-two quadrillion, one hundred ninety-five trillion, eight hundred forty billion ) single pieces of paper. So, now you have finally finished this task. Your stack of paper has reached the sun. This stack has taken you 829,828,988,666,558,336,776,896,872,752,232,888,488,040,216,856,608,768,480 years to build. (Eight hundred twenty-nine septendecillion, eight hundred twenty-eight sexdecillion, nine hundred eighty-eight quindecillion, six hundred sixty-six quattuordecillion, five hundred fifty-eight tredecillion, three hundred thirty-six duodecillion, seven hundred seventy-six undecillion, eight hundred ninety-six decillion, eight hundred seventy-two nonillion, seven hundred fifty-two octillion, two hundred thirty-two septillion, eight hundred eighty-eight sextillion, four hundred eighty-eight quintillion, forty quadrillion, two hundred sixteen trillion, eight hundred fifty-six billion, six hundred eight million, seven hundred sixty-eight thousand, four hundred eighty ).

Now, stop the timer! How many seconds do you think are left to countdown? Maybe a few million? What about a few trillion? Maybe even zero? Actually, you still have 80,632,005,683,957,286,511,474,782,095,734,587,987,675,649,832,090,566,500,023,488,756,47 0 seconds left on that countdown. Notice that the three numbers that are furthest to the left have not changed at all! You have barely made a tiny dent in that original number. (Eighty unvigintillion, six hundred thirty-two vigintillion, five novemdecillion, six hundred eighty-three octodecillion, nine hundred fifty-seven septendecillion, two hundred eighty-six sexdecillion, five hundred eleven quindecillion, four hundred seventy-four quattuordecillion, seven hundred eighty-two tredecillion, ninety-five duodecillion, seven hundred thirty-four undecillion, five hundred eighty-seven decillion, nine hundred eightyseven nonillion, six hundred seventy-five octillion, six hundred forty-nine septillion, eight hundred thirty-two sextillion, ninety quintillion, five hundred sixty-six quadrillion, five hundred trillion, twenty-three billion, four hundred eighty-eight million, seven hundred fifty-six thousand, four hundred seventy) It makes you want to cry. But you are a strong person! So you start the timer again and press on, bound and determined to see that countdown to zero! You repeat the process 999 more times, for a total of 1,000 stacks of paper reaching the sun! You are dedicated to say the least! After making 1,000 stacks of paper, you again stop the timer. How many seconds are left on the clock now? You must be close to zero. After all, you have been doing this process non-stop for 829,828,988,666,558,464,848,624,344,080,104,816,760,568,888,984,680,496,952,496 years!

(Eight hundred twenty-nine octodecillion, eight hundred twenty-eight septendecillion, nine hundred eighty-eight sexdecillion, six hundred sixty-six quindecillion, five hundred fifty-eight quattuordecillion, four hundred sixty-four tredecillion, eight hundred forty-eight duodecillion, six hundred twenty-four undecillion, three hundred forty-four decillion, eighty nonillion, one hundred four octillion, eight hundred sixteen septillion, seven hundred sixty sextillion, five hundred sixtyeight quintillion, eight hundred eighty-eight quadrillion, nine hundred eighty-four trillion, six hundred eighty billion, four hundred ninety-six million, nine hundred fifty-two thousand, four hundred ninety-six. Just so you know.)

Look down at your “52!Timer.” Unbelievably, there are still 53,857,362,530,019, 384,722,111,587,392,076,499,929,206,294,756,209,116,243,590,878,782,190 seconds remaining. But the good news is that you are now about a third of the way finished! Woo-hoo! (For those of you still keeping track, that means you have five unvigintillion, three hundred eighty-five vigintillion, seven hundred thirty-six novemdecillion, two hundred fifty-three octodecillion, one septendecillion, nine hundred thirty-eight sexdecillion, four hundred seventy-two quindecillion, two hundred eleven quattuordecillion, one hundred fifty-eight tredecillion, seven hundred thirty-nine duodecillion, two hundred seven undecillion, six hundred forty-nine decillion, nine hundred ninety-two nonillion, nine hundred twenty octillion, six hundred twenty-nine septillion, four hundred seventy-five sextillion, six hundred twenty quintillion, nine hundred eleven quadrillion, six hundred twenty-four trillion, three hundred fifty-nine billion, eighty-seven million, eight hundred seventy-eight thousand, two hundred nineteen seconds left to go.)

Well, no time for a coffee break. You still have a lot of trips around the planet, drops of ocean to extract, and sheets of paper to stack. Start that timer and get busy! You have to repeat that process 2,000 more times to get that countdown all the way down to zero! You can do it! That is only going to take you 1,707,805,762,621,111,552,568,312,576,664,952,168,328,656,232,656,784,784,856,544 more years to

accomplish it. Anyone can do that. (For those still playing the home game, that is one novemdecillion, seven hundred seven octodecillion, eight hundred five septendecillion, seven hundred sixty-two sexdecillion, six hundred twenty-one quindecillion, one hundred eleven quattuordecillion, five hundred fifty-two tredecillion, five hundred sixty-eight duodecillion, three hundred twelve undecillion, five hundred seventy-six decillion, six hundred sixty-four nonillion, nine hundred fifty-two octillion, one hundred sixty-eight septillion, three hundred twenty-eight sextillion, six hundred fifty-six quintillion, two hundred thirty-two quadrillion, six hundred fifty-six trillion, seven hundred eighty-four billion, seven hundred eighty-four million, eight hundred fifty-six thousand, five hundred forty-four years) And now at long last, your tasks are complete. It only took you 2,557,653,956,460,676,608,864,640,128,296,680,104,792,960,984,552,472,720,952,056 years to do it. (If you care to know, that number is two novemdecillion, five hundred fifty-seven octodecillion, six hundred fifty-three septendecillion, nine hundred fifty-six sexdecillion, four hundred sixty quindecillion, six hundred seventy-six quattuordecillion, six hundred eight tredecillion, eight hundred sixty-four duodecillion, six hundred forty undecillion, one hundred twenty-eight decillion,

two hundred ninety-six nonillion, six hundred eighty octillion, one hundred four septillion, seven hundred ninety-two sextillion, nine hundred sixty quintillion, nine hundred eighty-four quadrillion, five hundred fifty-two trillion, four hundred seventy-two billion, seven hundred twenty million, nine hundred fifty-two thousand, fifty-six)

It is time for a long overdue rest. Wait…oh, shoot! I forgot that I always leave a single Joker in my deck, so my deck contains 53 cards! So, reset that timer for: 4,274,883,284,060,026,856,200,920,224,960,928,544,808,720,576,328,088,320,176,240,584,808,984

seconds and get busy! (Not that is matters, but that number is four duovigintillion, two hundred seventy-four unvigintillion, eight hundred eighty-three vigintillion, two hundred eighty-four novemdecillion, sixty octodecillion, twenty-six septendecillion, eight hundred fifty-six sexdecillion, two hundred quindecillion, nine hundred twenty quattuordecillion, two hundred twenty-four tredecillion, nine hundred sixty duodecillion, nine hundred twenty-eight undecillion, five hundred forty-four decillion, eight hundred eight nonillion, seven hundred twenty octillion, five hundred seventy-six septillion, three hundred twenty-eight sextillion, eighty-eight quintillion, three hundred twenty quadrillion, one hundred seventy-six trillion, two hundred forty billion, five hundred eighty-four million, eight hundred eight thousand, nine hundred eighty-four ) Oh, c’mon. That single joker only added 4,194,225,108,889,083,880,888,896,704,496,736,304,248,112,376,368,248,856,144,320,112,616,240

seconds to the last countdown. (four duovigintillion, one hundred ninety-four unvigintillion, two hundred twenty-five vigintillion, one hundred eight novemdecillion, eight hundred eighty-nine octodecillion, eighty-three septendecillion, eight hundred eighty sexdecillion, eight hundred eighty-eight quindecillion, eight hundred ninety-six quattuordecillion, seven hundred four tredecillion, four hundred ninety-six duodecillion, seven hundred thirty-six undecillion, three hundred four decillion, two hundred fortyeight nonillion, one hundred twelve octillion, three hundred seventy-six septillion, three hundred sixty-eight sextillion, two hundred forty-eight quintillion, eight hundred fifty-six quadrillion, one hundred forty-four trillion, three hundred twenty billion, one hundred twelve million, six hundred sixteen thousand, two hundred forty)

Don’t worry, though. This will only take you 135,555,659,692,415,856,736,960,416,320,112,400,432,320,816,608,776,528,624,576,064 years to do

it. (Do you really want to be able to pronounce that number? I didn’t think so.)

NOTE: Obviously, these are impossible scenarios to actually accomplish, but not because of the insane amounts of time, the unbelievable distances, and the unbreakable laws of physics, but because if you had begun this exercise at the very moment that the “Big Bang” is thought to have occurred (as stated earlier, that was 13.5 billion years ago), our Milky Way Galaxy will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy (neither of which are expected to survive the impact) before you have taken 20 single steps. So, don’t bother trying.