dc project idea

zeruty

Platinum Member
Jan 17, 2000
2,276
2
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I was just reading on Wikipedia about the number "googolplex"
I think it's pretty damn amazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googolplex

A googolplex is 10^10^100 or 10^googol

How big is a googolplex?
One googol is greater than the number of elementary particles in the known universe, which has been variously estimated from 10^72 up to 10^87. Since a googolplex is one followed by a googol zeroes, it would not be possible to write down or store a googolplex in decimal notation, even if all the matter in the known universe were converted into paper and ink or disk drives.

Thinking of this another way, consider printing the digits of a googolplex in unreadable, 1-point font. TeX 1pt font is .3514598mm per digit, which means it would take about meters to write in one point font. The known universe is estimated at meters in diameter, which means the distance to write the digits would be about times the diameter of the known universe. The time it would take to write such a number also renders the task implausible: if a person can write two digits per second, it would take around times the age of the universe to write down a googolplex.

I call shens! I say we could combine our collective dc power to make a text file that stores the decimal version of the number googolplex! I don't care if it's physically impossible. I don't care if there aren't enough particles in the entire known universe to do it!, I say we can do it! ;)
 

petrusbroder

Elite Member
Nov 28, 2004
13,348
1,155
126
Why limit ourselves to Googolplex? That number is - compared to some others - small. I propose that we use Graham's number where the number of digits in the exponent is larger tha googolplex ... :Q :) ;)