how do I show 12 numbers from a huge number?

[jefsummers]

Not necessarily.

>>> 2**3**2
512
>>> (2**3)**2
64
>>> 2**(3**2)
512
>>> 

In selected cases it may be the same but not always.

Anyway, I tried using Decimal, other ideas and other than brute force slow I am at some loss. The answer, of course, is a binary expression of all zeros except for a 1 in the 1.717... billionth place.

Since the professor did not specify that it has to be in base 10 you could express this in base 2 and be done, but I think that will get you an F, or maybe a C- for cleverness.