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Article #762

Re: Largest digit with a name?

#762
From: JMCInSitu
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 00:00
24 lines
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Chris,
      My guess is that you are looking for the largest number (not the
largest digit) which has a name. The difference between a digit and a
number has been made evident in this thread thus far. Anyway, if you are
looking for the largest number, I suggest that you will be looking for a
very very very long time. The point is this: there is no finite number
which is bigger than all other numbers. Given any really big number I bet
I can find another bigger than it. Just add a one. If you want to find a
number bigger than that one..... well, just add another one to that
number. As you can imagine, your list of really big numbers is going to be
without an end. 
     In asking this question (what's the biggest number with a name) I
think you are touching on a fairly abstract and nearly whimsical part of
Mathematics - the concept of infinity. Infinity is a concept that
Mathematicians use to describe that which is always bigger than any given
finite number ( a finite number is 1, 4, 129094, or 2348329089.9576, ....
something that you can point to on the number line). Infinity is not a
number since, as we know, any number has another number bigger than it.
Anyway, one has to be very careful when talking about the infinite. AS you
are probabaly finding as you think about all of this, the concept of
infinity is hard for the brain to picture let alone for anyone to
describe. I'm learning more about the infinte as I study a subject in
Mathematics known as real analysis ( it's a real pain in the butt!) as an
undergraduate.  
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From: jmcinsitu@aol.com (JMCInSitu)
Subject: Re: Largest digit with a name?
Date: 1996/01/16
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