Full Version: The Impossible Number
QUOTE (Fugabutacus @ May 17 2008, 04:24 PM) 
I think that its very possible and that numbers are endless. The more technology we discover the bigger numbers we will have and some day a googleplex will be dwarfed.
I don't think the author of that blog is fully educated on this matter. He states that it is impossible to write that number down because there isn't enough matter in the universe to write it on and no computer can hold it without crashing. I'm almost entirely sure thats not correct.
I agree, that article didn't seem very accurate.
QUOTE (Cadetak @ May 17 2008, 07:40 PM)
I don't think the author of that blog is fully educated on this matter. He states that it is impossible to write that number down because there isn't enough matter in the universe to write it on and no computer can hold it without crashing. I'm almost entirely sure thats not correct.
Actually he/she is correct. It is perfectly possible for numbers to be so large that it is impossible to write them down in conventional form.
Think about what Enigma wrapped in a puzzle said:
QUOTE (Enigma wrapped in a puzzle @ May 17 2008, 05:06 PM)
I think that its very possible and that numbers are endless.
This is perfectly true, there are an infinite number of numbers. The universe, however is finite both in size and in the matter it contains. Logically, therefore, numbers exist which are so huge that they simply can not be written down in conventional form.Now I have twice used the expression conventional form. This is because scientific notation can be used to express very large (or very small) numbers. Thus in stead of writing 1,250,000,000,000,000 we can write 1.25x1015. Using this method truly huge numbers can be expressed.
Here is a link which explains scientific notation: CLICK.
QUOTE (Waspie_Dwarf @ May 17 2008, 06:28 PM)
Actually he/she is correct. It is perfectly possible for numbers to be so large that it is impossible to write them down in conventional form.
Think about what Enigma wrapped in a puzzle said:This is perfectly true, there are an infinite number of numbers. The universe, however is finite both in size and in the matter it contains. Logically, therefore, numbers exist which are so huge that they simply can not be written down in conventional form.
Now I have twice used the expression conventional form. This is because scientific notation can be used to express very large (or very small) numbers. Thus in stead of writing 1,250,000,000,000,000 we can write 1.25x1015. Using this method truly huge numbers can be expressed.
Here is a link which explains scientific notation: CLICK.
Think about what Enigma wrapped in a puzzle said:This is perfectly true, there are an infinite number of numbers. The universe, however is finite both in size and in the matter it contains. Logically, therefore, numbers exist which are so huge that they simply can not be written down in conventional form.
Now I have twice used the expression conventional form. This is because scientific notation can be used to express very large (or very small) numbers. Thus in stead of writing 1,250,000,000,000,000 we can write 1.25x1015. Using this method truly huge numbers can be expressed.
Here is a link which explains scientific notation: CLICK.
I agree but I just don't think this number is big enough to take up all of the universes matter to write down. I'm sure that a computer could also hold this number if it was designed to.
I could get hundreds of people with hundreds of pencils to all write down hundreds of zero's after I write a One at the start and we'd make it eventually. 
I don't think the author of that blog is fully educated on this matter. He states that it is impossible to write that number down because there isn't enough matter in the universe to write it on and no computer can hold it without crashing. I'm almost entirely sure thats not correct.
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A googolplex is 10*10*100 (*= to the power of) whereas the number of atoms in the (observable) universe is around 10*80, so even if each atom represented one digit, there would not be enough atoms in the universe to write the number down.
As for computers, they'd have to create one that could store hundreds of digits in each atom of the harddrive, so it's unlikely any time soon.
but as for the future, who knows?
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A googolplex is 10*10*100 (*= to the power of) whereas the number of atoms in the (observable) universe is around 10*80, so even if each atom represented one digit, there would not be enough atoms in the universe to write the number down.
As for computers, they'd have to create one that could store hundreds of digits in each atom of the harddrive, so it's unlikely any time soon.
but as for the future, who knows?
It is possible to write a googolplex if you go into space and take atoms from other planets.
So why couldn't I just write it?
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