Re: [9fans] I appear to have stumped the brains at chacha.com

["Jack Johnson" <knapjack@gmail.com>]

On 10/16/07, Bakul Shah <bakul+plan9@bitblocks.com> wrote:
> > a simple question: how many microrprocessors are there in the world?
>
> Dead or alive?  In use or ever made?

If I were counting, I'd be thinking still in existence, but not
necessarily in use. So, that magic line from 1955 to the present, some
reasonable portion under the curve.

I think the MMU is the interesting limiter.  Normally I would have
done something like:

% of cell phones + % of cell phone users with a DVD player + % of cell
phone users with a computer + % of cell phone users with a digital
cable or satellite receiver + most of the trash + some fudge factor

Though, if you could calculate the average number of microprocessors
per person by nation (or by their nation's GDP, or some other easy
extrapolation).

-Jack