I'm decent in math. Just enjoy using logic.
I've just read up about Litecoins; they seem to be almost the exact same to bitcoins.
Some key differences of them:
1. The Litecoin network processes a block every 2.5 minutes, rather than Bitcoin's 10 minutes. 1
Alright, so the mining rate (gather rate) is about 4x faster than that of BTC (bitcoins).
2. The Litecoin network will produce 84 million litecoins, or four times as many currency units as will be issued by the Bitcoin network. 2
It has 4x the amount of currency units (coins) as BTC.
3. 1 Litecoin = $2.39401
So, a litecoin is worth about $2.3.
The current exchange rate of a bitcoin is $99.0
Mines 4x faster, has 4x as much coins, but it's worth $2.3.
In the work it would take you to mine 1 bitcoin (worth $99), you would mine 4 litecoins (approx. $10).
-Prices subject to change
Unless the market is prone to severe fluctuations, I'm not sure if it's something I'm willing to invest in at this point.
Usually one one currency system prevails in a certain region (digital), and I believe it will be the bitcoin.
1 & 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litecoin
Last night bitcoins hit $120.65
**Ninja edit: They are $121.201 according to Mt. Gox