Without using numbers, get the highest salary you can. But don't exaggerate!

Question

As I'm applying for some jobs whose job advert doesn't state the salary, I imagined a particularly evil interviewer that would give the candidate the possibility to decide their own salary ...by "golfing" it!

So it goes simply like that:

Without using numbers, write a code that outputs the annual salary you'd like to be offered.

However, being able to write concise code is a cornerstone of this company. So they have implemented a very tight seniority ladder where

employers that write code that is b bytes long can earn a maximum of ($1'000'000) · b^−0.75.

we are looking at (these are the integer parts, just for display reasons):

   1 byte  → $1'000'000       15 bytes → $131'199
   2 bytes →   $594'603       20 bytes → $105'737
   3 bytes →   $438'691       30 bytes →  $78'011
   4 bytes →   $353'553       40 bytes →  $62'871
  10 bytes →   $177'827       50 bytes →  $53'182

The challenge

Write a program or function that takes no input and outputs a text containing a dollar sign ($, U+0024) and a decimal representation of a number (integer or real).

• Your code cannot contain the characters 0123456789.

In the output:

• There may optionally be a single space between the dollar sign and the number.

• Trailing and leading white spaces and new lines are acceptable, but any other output is forbidden.

• The number must be expressed as a decimal number using only the characters 0123456789.. This excludes the use of scientific notation.

• Any number of decimal places are allowed.

An entry is valid if the value it outputs is not greater than ($1'000'000) · b^−0.75, where b is the byte length of the source code.

Example output (the quotes should not be output)

"$ 428000"            good if code is not longer than 3 bytes
"$321023.32"          good if code is not longer than 4 bytes
"  $ 22155.0"         good if code is not longer than 160 bytes
"$ 92367.15 \n"       good if code is not longer than 23 bytes
"300000 $"            bad
" lorem $ 550612.89"  bad
"£109824"             bad
"$ -273256.21"        bad
"$2.448E5"            bad

The score

The value you output is your score! (Highest salary wins, of course.)

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Leaderboard

Here is a Stack Snippet to generate both a regular leaderboard and an overview of winners by language.

To make sure that your answer shows up, please start your answer with a headline, using the following Markdown template:

# Language Name, $X (Y bytes)

where X is your salary and Y is the size of your submission. (The Y bytes can be anywhere in your answer.) If you improve your score, you can keep old scores in the headline, by striking them through. For instance:

# Ruby, <s>$111111.111... (18 bytes)</s> <s>$111999 (17 bytes)</s> $123456 (16 bytes)

You can also make the language name a link, which will then show up in the leaderboard snippet:

# [><>](http://esolangs.org/wiki/Fish), $126,126 (13 bytes)

var QUESTION_ID=171168,OVERRIDE_USER=77736;function answersUrl(e){return"https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/questions/"+QUESTION_ID+"/answers?page="+e+"&pagesize=100&order=desc&sort=creation&site=codegolf&filter="+ANSWER_FILTER}function commentUrl(e,s){return"https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/answers/"+s.join(";")+"/comments?page="+e+"&pagesize=100&order=desc&sort=creation&site=codegolf&filter="+COMMENT_FILTER}function getAnswers(){jQuery.ajax({url:answersUrl(answer_page++),method:"get",dataType:"jsonp",crossDomain:!0,success:function(e){answers.push.apply(answers,e.items),answers_hash=[],answer_ids=[],e.items.forEach(function(e){e.comments=[];var s=+e.share_link.match(/\d+/);answer_ids.push(s),answers_hash[s]=e}),e.has_more||(more_answers=!1),comment_page=1,getComments()}})}function getComments(){jQuery.ajax({url:commentUrl(comment_page++,answer_ids),method:"get",dataType:"jsonp",crossDomain:!0,success:function(e){e.items.forEach(function(e){e.owner.user_id===OVERRIDE_USER&&answers_hash[e.post_id].comments.push(e)}),e.has_more?getComments():more_answers?getAnswers():process()}})}function getAuthorName(e){return e.owner.display_name}function process(){var e=[];answers.forEach(function(s){var r=s.body.replace(/<(s|strike)>.*?<\/\1>/g,"");s.comments.forEach(function(e){OVERRIDE_REG.test(e.body)&&(r="<h1>"+e.body.replace(OVERRIDE_REG,"")+"</h1>")});var a1=r.match(SCORE_REG),a2=r.match(LANG_REG),a3=r.match(BYTES_REG);a1&&a2&&e.push({user:getAuthorName(s),size:a3?+a3[1]:0,score:+a1[1].replace(/[^\d.]/g,""),lang:a2[1],rawlang:(/<a/.test(a2[1])?jQuery(a2[1]).text():a2[1]).toLowerCase(),link:s.share_link})}),e.sort(function(e,s){var r=e.score,a=s.score;return a-r});var s={},r=1,a=null,n=1;e.forEach(function(e){e.score!=a&&(n=r),a=e.score,++r;var t=jQuery("#answer-template").html();t=t.replace("{{PLACE}}",n+".").replace("{{NAME}}",e.user).replace("{{LANGUAGE}}",e.lang).replace("{{SCORE}}","$"+e.score.toFixed(2)).replace("{{SIZE}}",e.size||"?").replace("{{LINK}}",e.link),t=jQuery(t),jQuery("#answers").append(t);s[e.rawlang]=s[e.rawlang]||e});var t=[];for(var o in s)s.hasOwnProperty(o)&&t.push(s[o]);t.sort(function(e,s){var r=e.rawlang,a=s.rawlang;return r>a?1:r<a?-1:0});for(var c=0;c<t.length;++c){var i=jQuery("#language-template").html(),o=t[c];i=i.replace("{{LANGUAGE}}",o.lang).replace("{{NAME}}",o.user).replace("{{SCORE}}","$"+o.score.toFixed(2)).replace("{{SIZE}}",o.size||"?").replace("{{LINK}}",o.link),i=jQuery(i),jQuery("#languages").append(i)}}var ANSWER_FILTER="!t)IWYnsLAZle2tQ3KqrVveCRJfxcRLe",COMMENT_FILTER="!)Q2B_A2kjfAiU78X(md6BoYk",answers=[],answers_hash,answer_ids,answer_page=1,more_answers=!0,comment_page;getAnswers();var LANG_REG=/<h\d>\s*((?:[^\n,](?!\s*\(?\d+\s*bytes))*[^\s,:-])/,BYTES_REG=/(\d+)\s*(?:<a[^>]+>|<\/a>)?\s*bytes/i,SCORE_REG=/\$\s*([\d',]+\.?\d*)/,OVERRIDE_REG=/^Override\s*header:\s*/i;

body{text-align:left!important}#answer-list,#language-list{padding:10px;width:520px;float:left}table thead{font-weight:700}table td{padding:5px}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="//cdn.sstatic.net/codegolf/all.css?v=83c949450c8b"> <div id="answer-list"> <h2>Leaderboard</h2> <table class="answer-list"> <thead> <tr><td></td><td>Author</td><td>Language</td><td>Score</td><td>Size</td></tr></thead> <tbody id="answers"> </tbody> </table> </div><div id="language-list"> <h2>Winners by Language</h2> <table class="language-list"> <thead> <tr><td>Language</td><td>User</td><td>Score</td><td>Size</td></tr></thead> <tbody id="languages"> </tbody> </table> </div><table style="display: none"> <tbody id="answer-template"> <tr><td>{{PLACE}}</td><td>{{NAME}}</td><td>{{LANGUAGE}}</td><td>{{SCORE}}</td><td>{{SIZE}}</td><td><a href="{{LINK}}">Link</a></td></tr></tbody> </table> <table style="display: none"> <tbody id="language-template"> <tr><td>{{LANGUAGE}}</td><td>{{NAME}}</td><td>{{SCORE}}</td><td>{{SIZE}}</td><td><a href="{{LINK}}">Link</a></td></tr></tbody> </table>

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Edit: (rounded) maximum allowed score per byte count, for a quicker reference - text here:

Answer 1

bash, $127127

x;echo \$$?$?

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Since the x command doesn't exist, it errors and sets the exit code to 127.

Then, the code outputs a dollar sign followed by $? twice. The $? variable stores the exit code of the previous command, so this outputs $127127 in 13 bytes.

Answer 2

Java 8, $131,199.00 (15 bytes)

v->"$"+'e'*'ԓ'

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Explanation:

v->            // Method with empty unused parameter and String return-type
  "$"+         //  Return a dollar sign, concatted with:
      'e'*'ԓ'  //  131199 (101 * 1299)

\$131,199.00 < 131,199.31\$

I used a program to generate a printable ASCII character in the range [32, 126] which, when dividing 131199, would have the lowest amount of decimal values. Since 101 can divide 131199 evenly, resulting in 1299, I'm only 31 cents short of my maximum possible salary based on my byte-count of 15.

Answer 3

CJam, (5 bytes) $294204.018...

'$PB#

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Explanation:

I derived it from Dennis' answer, but looked for combinations of numbers which would yield a higher result. I almost gave up, but I saw that P is the variable for \$\pi\$, and that \$\pi^{11} \approx 294000\$. The letter B has a value of 11 in CJam, giving the code above.

Answer 4

CJam, 5 bytes, $262'144

'$YI#

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How it works

'$     Push '$'.
  Y    Push 2.
   I   Push 18.
    #  Pop 2 and 18 and perform exponentiation, pushing 262144.

Answer 5

R, 20 bytes, $103540.9

T=pi+pi;cat("$",T^T)

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The max for 20 bytes is $105737.1, so this is quite close to the salary cap!

This would be a nice raise, and if I get paid to do code golf......

Answer 6

GS2, (5 bytes) $292,929

•$☺↔A

A full program (shown here using code-page 437). (Maximum achievable salary @ 5 bytes is $299069.75)

Try it online!

Builds upon Dennis's GS2 answer...

•$☺↔A                             []
•$    - push '$'                  ['$']
  ☺   - push unsigned byte:
   ↔  -   0x1d = 29               ['$',29]
    A - push top of stack twice   ['$',29,29,29]
      - implicit print            $292929

Answer 7

Self-modifying Brainfuck, 16 bytes, $124444

<.<++.+.++..../$

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Answer 8

R, 21 bytes $99649.9

cat("$",min(lynx^pi))

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A different R approach - see also Giuseppe's answer

Very close to the maximum of $101937 for this bytecount.

Bonus: object.size()

R, 24 bytes $89096

cat("$",object.size(ls))

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This is probably system-dependent, but when I ra this on TIO I got $89096 - close to the limit of 92223 for 24 bytes.

Answer 9

JavaScript (ES6), 19 bytes, $109,839

_=>atob`JDEwOTgzOQ`

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\$109839\$ is the highest integer \$\le 109884\$ which does not produce any digit when prefixed with '$' and encoded in base64.

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Without atob() (Node.js), 26 bytes, $86,126

_=>'$'+Buffer('V~').join``

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The concatenation of '$' with the ASCII codes of 'V' (86) and '~' (126).

Answer 10

PHP, $131116 (8 bytes)

Didn't see one for php and wanted to throw one up. I know someplace in php is a bad typecast that would cut this in half but I can't find it right now.

$<?=ERA;

This just takes advantage of PHP short tags and the PHP built in constants.

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Answer 11

GS2, 5 bytes, $291'000

•$☺↔∟

This is a CP437 representation of the binary source code.

Try it online!

How it works

•$     Push '$'.
  ☺↔   Push 29.
    ∟  Push 1000.

Answer 12

Excel 19 bytes $107899.616068361

="$"&CODE("(")^PI()

Explanation:

     CODE("(")        // find ASCII code of ( which is 40
              ^PI()   // raise to power of Pi  (40^3.141592654)
 "$"&                 // append $ to the front of it
=                     // set it to the cell value and display

Answer 13

vim, $99999 $110000 $120000

i$=&pvh*&ur

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Uses the expression register (note that there is a <C-r> character, which is invisible in most fonts, between the $ and =, for a total of 13 bytes) to insert the value of the 'pvh' option times the value of the 'ur' option.

'previewheight' is the option that controls the height of preview windows, which is 12 by default.

'undoreload' is the maximum number of lines a buffer can have before vim gives up on storing it in memory for undo, and it defaults to 10,000.

Answer 14

Jelly,  $256000 $256256  (6 bytes) $257256

⁹‘”$;;

A full program. (Maximum achievable salary @ 6 bytes is $260847.43)

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How?

⁹‘”$;; - Main Link: no arguments
⁹      - Literal 256                            256
 ‘     - increment                              257
  ”$   - single '$' character                   '$'
    ;  - concatenate                            ['$',257]
     ; - concatenate                            ['$',257,256]
       - implicit print                      -> $257256

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Previous...

5 bytes $256256

”$;⁹⁺

('$' concatenate 256, repeat 256 - causing interim implicit printing)

6 bytes $256000:

⁹×ȷṭ”$

(256 × 1000 ṭack '$')

Answer 15

C#

Full program, 72 bytes, $40448 66 bytes, $43008

class P{static void Main()=>System.Console.Write("$"+('T'<<'i'));}

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Explanation

Left-shift operator treats chars 'T' and 'i' as integers 84 and 105 respectively and performs shift

Lambda, 19 bytes, $109568 17 bytes, $118784

o=>"$"+('t'<<'j')

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Edit Thanks to @LegionMammal978 and @Kevin for saving 2 bytes

Answer 16

PHP, 13 Bytes, $144000 Salary

Unfortunately for this job, moving to Mauritius is required (well, I could move slightly less far eastward, however every timezone less would yield at $36k drop in salary.) To compensate for the inconvenience, my salary increases by $1 every leap year.

$<?=date(ZL);

This just puts out Z the timezone in seconds and appends whether or not it's a leap year.

Answer 17

brainfuck, 43 bytes, $58888

++++++[>++++++<-]>.<++++[>++++<-]>+.+++....

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How it works

++++++[>++++++<-]>.  write 36 to cell one and print (36 is ASCII for $)

<++++[>++++<-]>+.    add 17 to cell 1 and print (cell 1 is now 53, ASCII for 5) 

+++....              add 3 to cell 1 and print 4 times (cell 1 is now 56, ASCII for 8)

Answer 18

Python 3, (22 bytes) $ 98,442

print('$',ord('𘂊'))

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Much like Doorknob's Ruby answer, the 4 byte Unicode character used here, 𘂊, has an ordinal value of the maximal integer salary achievable in 22 bytes.

Note that print() prints its unnamed arguments separated by spaces by default (sep is an optional named argument).

Answer 19

Gol><>, $207680 in 8 bytes

'o**n; $

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How it works:

'        Start string interpretation. Pushes the ASCII value of every character until it wraps back around to this character
 o       Output the top stack value as ASCII. This is the $ at the end of the code
  **     Multiply the top 3 stack values (This is the ASCII of 'n; ', 110*59*32
    n    Output top of stack as integer.
     ;   Terminate program
       $ (Not run, used for printing the $)

Interestingly enough, you can use h instead of n;, which yields 'o**h5$ with a score of $231504, but you can't use 0-9, and there isn't another 1-byte way to push 53, the ASCII value of 5

Answer 20

Mathematica, 18 bytes, $107,163.49

$~Print~N[E^(E!E)]

Full program; run using MathematicaScipt -script. Outputs $107163.4882807548 followed by a trailing newline. I have verified that this is the highest-scoring solution of the form $~Print~N[expr] where expr is comprised of Pi, E, I, and +-* /()!.

Answer 21

05AB1E (5 bytes), $262626

'$₂ÐJ

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\$262626 < 299069\$. Pushes the character $ to the stack, then pushes the integer \$26\$. From here, the program triplicates the integer, leaving the stack as ["$", 26, 26, 26] and joins (J) the stack.

Answer 22

JavaScript (Node.js), 23 bytes, $65535

_=>"$"+ +(~~[]+`xFFFF`)

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This is the best I can get without atob, though there is a large improvement space tbh

You know, having no short character to ascii conversion function sucks A LOT.

AFTER A WHOLE DAY

JavaScript (Node.js), 30 bytes, $78011

_=>"$"+`𓂻`.codePointAt(![])

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or: 29 bytes, $80020

_=>"$"+`򀀠`.codePointAt(!_)

Where 򀀠 is U+13894 INVALID CHARACTER

Oh String.codePointAt! I've just completely forgotten this!

A joke one (15B, $130000), not vaild at all but just for fun

_=>"$十三萬"

Answer 23

Jelly, 8 bytes, $210176.48625619375

⁽½"×½”$,

3535 (⁽½") multipli(×)ed by its sqrt (½).

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Answer 24

Perl 5.26.2, 12 bytes, $146002

say$]^"\x11\x0e\x01\x06"

Hex escapes only shown because ASCII control chars are filtered out.

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You can get a bit more with different Perl versions, for example $155012 with 5.25.12.

Answer 25

MATLAB, 17 bytes, $112222

['$','..////'+pi]

Old answer:

['$','RRUUTR'-'!']

Answer 26

brainfuck, 34 bytes, $69999

+[->-[---<]>-]>.[-->+++<]>.+++....

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Explanation:

+[->-[---<]>-]>.   Generate and print 36 ($)
[-->+++<]>         Divide by 2 and multiply by 3 to get 54 (6)
          .        Print 6
           +++.... Print 9999

Answer 27

Ruby, $119443

$><<?$<<?𝊓.ord

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The maximum integer output for 17 bytes. The Unicode character is U+1D293, which is 119443 in hex.

Answer 28

MathGolf, $353535 (4 bytes)

'$W∙

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Explanation

'$    Push "$"
  W   Push 35
   ∙  Triplicate top of stack

Disclaimer

This language was created after the posting of this question. While the language is a general language, it is designed with numerical questions in mind. It contains a lot of 1-byte number literals, and other nifty things for number-related questions. It is still a work in progress.

Answer 29

dc, $169169 10 bytes

Dd*d[$]nnn

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This prints 13 (D) squared, twice

Answer 30

Japt, 5 bytes, $262144

'$+I³

Test it

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Explanation I is the Japt constant for 64, ³ cubes it and then '$+ concatenates that with the dollar symbol.