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by permo-w 1020 days ago
if Earth sqm = 2^49: to address a single metre, we'd need 49 bits. log_10(2^49) = 14.75 so we'd need 15 spoken decimal digits for 1 sqm. for 8m do log_10(2^47)
1 comments

> if Earth sqm = 2^49: to address a single metre, we'd need 49 bits.

Yes-- that's why I said it was 46 bits for an 8 square meter area (because this is about the size of area you care about for this problem-- W3W is 9 square meters).

> for 8m do log_10(2^47)

No, because 2^3 = 8, so one does log_10(2^(49-3)) and gets 13.8. 46 / 3.3 =~ 13.9 works because 1/log_10(2) =~ 3.3.