Comments on: $23 quadrillion cigarette mystery solved

By: thatedeguy

thatedeguy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:14:00 +0000

If you have to convert the amount he was charged in order to get to that, shouldn't you have to convert back (after removing spaces) to decimal to get the real amount he was charged for the cigarettes? Doing so, (1250 hex = 4688 decimal) you get a sale price of $46.88. If he paid that for two packs of cigs, he needs to move to a different state.

By: thatedeguy

thatedeguy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:14:00 +0000

If you have to convert the amount he was charged in order to get to that, shouldn’t you have to convert back (after removing spaces) to decimal to get the real amount he was charged for the cigarettes? Doing so, (1250 hex = 4688 decimal) you get a sale price of $46.88. If he paid that for two packs of cigs, he needs to move to a different state.

By: John Lister

John Lister — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:56:00 +0000

I've checked with Frank Wales on this point. He can't think of any logistical reason why either $12.50 as an amount, or 1250 as a number, should trigger any problems.

Bearing in mind this is completely speculation and Wales notes that it's impossible to deduce anything more without seeing further details of the transactions, there are a couple of other possibilities:

* The number 1250 refers to something other than a cash amount, is present in every affected transaction, but doesn't cause the problem itself. (For example, it could be a bank system code relating to the particular type of pre-paid charge card which was affected.)

* The number 1250 is not present in the orginal transaction but is instead generated by whatever problem caused the system to go haywire.

By: John Lister

John Lister — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:56:00 +0000

I’ve checked with Frank Wales on this point. He can’t think of any logistical reason why either $12.50 as an amount, or 1250 as a number, should trigger any problems.

Bearing in mind this is completely speculation and Wales notes that it’s impossible to deduce anything more without seeing further details of the transactions, there are a couple of other possibilities:

* The number 1250 refers to something other than a cash amount, is present in every affected transaction, but doesn’t cause the problem itself. (For example, it could be a bank system code relating to the particular type of pre-paid charge card which was affected.)

* The number 1250 is not present in the orginal transaction but is instead generated by whatever problem caused the system to go haywire.

By: Ryan Rampersad

Ryan Rampersad — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:02:00 +0000

You should always trim your inputs before you escape them. The need for untrimmed input rises just as often as total eclipse.

By: Ryan Rampersad

Ryan Rampersad — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:02:00 +0000

You should always trim your inputs before you escape them. The need for untrimmed input rises just as often as total eclipse.

By: John Giotta

John Giotta — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Did they say it was happening only when the amount is $12.50? That doesn't seem right it should have happened with any dollar amount. I mean, what would they need to accomplish by treating $12.50 any differently.

By: John Giotta

John Giotta — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Did they say it was happening only when the amount is $12.50? That doesn’t seem right it should have happened with any dollar amount. I mean, what would they need to accomplish by treating $12.50 any differently.