Hints and solutions to
Problem of the day for Monday, May 21

List these numbers from smallest to largest:

2121, 955, 788.


  • We had one like this before, where the numbers were too big for our calculators.
  • But as before, we can notice that the exponents are all multiples of 11. So we're really dealing with the numbers (211)11, (95)11, and (78)11.
  • That means we really have to put the numbers 211, 95, and 78 in order. These are numbers we can do either by hand or by calculator.
  • And we get 211 = 2024, 95 = 59,049, and 78 = 5,764,801.
  • So the numbers were in order to begin with: 2121 < 955 < 788