# What is the biggest number?

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CompuChip
Homework Helper
Actually I thought this one was funnier.

Biggest named number is Googolplex

Biggest number is ZERO.

CompuChip
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Or sup R?

The biggest number is infinity minus one.

Integral
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
The biggest number is infinity minus one.

Are you sure? how about infinity - .5 ... no wait....maybe infinity - .1 .... no wait...

Gee maybe there is NO biggest number.

Are you sure? how about infinity - .5 ... no wait....maybe infinity - .1 .... no wait...

Gee maybe there is NO biggest number.

No, its infinity minus one over infinity.

Are you sure? how about infinity - .5 ... no wait....maybe infinity - .1 .... no wait...

Gee maybe there is NO biggest number.

You're right. My mistake.

Infinity minus one is the largest WHOLE number.

Hurkyl
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Biggest named number is Googolplex

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DaveC426913
Gold Member
Second for Graham's number.

Infinity is a concept, not a number. Graham's number has the distinction of being the largest number ever used in a serious work of math.

And it is large indeed. In fact, it leaves 'large' lying upside-down on the dirt track, feet in the air with one shoe off and its frillies billowing in the breeze.

Redbelly98
Staff Emeritus
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You're right. My mistake.

Infinity minus one is the largest WHOLE number.

That would be true if infinity were a whole number, but it isn't.

It's 42

Hurkyl
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
Infinity is a concept, not a number.
While probably true given some interpretation of these words, there are several number systems that have numbers named "infinity" or some variation thereof.

Hurkyl
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
It's 42
That's not a big number: that's a big numeral.

CompuChip
Homework Helper
It's 42

No no ,you got it all backwards!

(And we're back at post #1)

You're forgetting Jimmy's constant J equal to Graham's constant plus one. There's a mathematical theorem that makes use of Jimmy's constant in the form J - 1.

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Jimmy's back to mine-is-bigger game.

I think jobyts constant is bigger than any of other constants. It's defined as Pi without the dot.

DaveC426913
Gold Member
You're forgetting Jimmy's constant J equal to Graham's constant plus one. There's a mathematical theorem that makes use of Jimmy's constant in the form J - 1.
You kill me.

Sorry, I meant "biggest number known to humanino before Hurkyl's post". Thanks.

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Sorry, I meant "biggest number known to humanino before Hurkyl's post". Thanks.

Well, the thread is a joke, but it is an interesting question, as in if there's a semantic limit to the ability to coherently represent a number. In other words, what would be the biggest real number hypothetically represented by all the possible symbols imbued with maximum semantic sense (by semantic sense, i mean, we can say G64 in regards to graham's number and that can have some semantic meaning, but surely at ooe point there's an absolute limit that would actualy be representable?)

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CompuChip
Homework Helper
Isn't the point of mathematics that there isn't?
There simply are infinitely many numbers, so whenever we need to represent them we can always find a way to express them mathematically, like
$$10^{10^6}, 3 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 64 \text{ or } x$$

Or am I really misunderstanding your question, Galteeth?

Well, the thread is a joke, but it is an interesting question, as in if there's a semantic limit to the ability to coherently represent a number. In other words, what would be the biggest real number hypothetically represented by all the possible symbols imbued with maximum semantic sense (by semantic sense, i mean, we can say G64 in regards to graham's number and that can have some semantic meaning, but surely at ooe point there's an absolute limit that would actualy be representable?)
Let A be the set of all positive integers that cannot be represented by all the possible symbols imbued with maximum semantic sense. This set must have a smallest element. That element has just been represented by symbols imbued with semantic sense. Therefore, the set A must be empty.

Redbelly98
Staff Emeritus