"The tangent of 10 to the 100th."
This one is easy. It's zero.
(For the record)
Python 3.2.2 (default, Sep 5 2011, 21:17:14)
[GCC 4.6.1] on linux2
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>>> from math import tan, pi
>>> tan(10**100)
-0.4116229628832498
>>> tan((180/pi)*(10**100)) # degrees
2.415162133199225
I have a whimsical challenge for you: come up with problems with numerical solutions that are hard to estimate.
This, like surprisingly many things, originates from a Richard Feynman story:
So what would you ask Richard Feynman to solve? Think of this as the reverse of Fermi Problems.
Number theory may be a rich source of possibilities here; many functions there are wildly fluctuating, require prime factorization and depend upon the exact value of the number rather than it's order of magnitude. For example, I challenge you to compute the largest prime factor of 650238.
(My original example was: "For example, I challenge you to compute the greatest common denominator of 10643 and 15047 without a computer. This problem has the nice advantage of being trivial to make harder to compute - just throw in some extra primes." It has been pointed out that I forgot Euclid's algorithm and have managed to choose about the only number theoretic question that does have an efficient solution.)