Graham's Number - Numberphile

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  • Опубліковано 3 кві 2012
  • See our other Graham's Number videos: bit.ly/G_Number
    A number so epic it will collapse your brain into a black hole! Yet Tony Padilla and Matt Parker take the risk of discussing its magnitude. Watch with caution.
    More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓
    See also our video about the Googol and Googolplex at: • Googol and Googolplex ...
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  • Наука та технологія

КОМЕНТАРІ • 7 тис.

  • @petertimowreef9085
    @petertimowreef9085 8 років тому +3585

    Mathemathicians are so funny.
    "Imagine a number that's unimaginably high. And then the answer is between that number, and 11. Childsplay really, let's go to the pub."

    • @MrCubFan415
      @MrCubFan415 6 років тому +156

      Actually, the lower bound is 13 now (and the upper bound has been reduced to 2^^^6).

    • @stefanr8232
      @stefanr8232 6 років тому +15

      where is link to proof?

    • @arnavanand8037
      @arnavanand8037 5 років тому +112

      2 + 2 = Something between -∞ and ∞

    • @arnavanand8037
      @arnavanand8037 5 років тому +11

      Or possibly between 5 and 5454545575454545457575757575757242454545454542424545454

    • @robinlindgren6429
      @robinlindgren6429 5 років тому +59

      to be fair, having reduced it to any range at all means they have narrowed it down to a ratio that approaches 0% of all numbers, that's practically being spot on!

  • @MordredMS
    @MordredMS 7 років тому +5514

    I actually came up with an even bigger number.
    Graham's Number+1.
    I call it "Mr. Whiskers".

    • @glass7923
      @glass7923 7 років тому +98

      XD

    • @prometheusxo6013
      @prometheusxo6013 7 років тому +331

      I wish comments like this show up more. Now it seems like channel promotion and pepole asking for likes are tue only thing I see, stuff like this is what the internet is for

    • @vlh371
      @vlh371 7 років тому +270

      The reason Grahams number is special is because it was used to solve a problem. Grahams number plus 1 isn't useful.

    • @valhalla4558
      @valhalla4558 7 років тому +169

      I came up with a far bigger number. Grahams number to the power of googolplexian. I call it "Mr Puff"

    • @glass7923
      @glass7923 7 років тому +16

      Keyslam Games I call it "Lo Wang"

  • @NoriMori1992
    @NoriMori1992 4 роки тому +1035

    I love Wikipedia's description of how big Graham's number is: "It is so large that the observable universe is far too small to contain an ordinary digital representation of Graham's number, assuming that each digit occupies one Planck volume … But even the number of digits in this digital representation of Graham's number would itself be a number so large that its digital representation cannot be represented in the observable universe. Nor even can the number of digits of that number-and so forth, for a number of times far exceeding the total number of Planck volumes in the observable universe."

    • @philip8498
      @philip8498 2 роки тому +196

      this reads like something from the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

    • @RH-ro3sg
      @RH-ro3sg Рік тому +124

      And, while perfectly true, even that is an extreme understatement, in the sense that that description already is true for g1= 3↑↑↑↑3, the mere _initial number_ (with just 4 measly arrows), used to get up to Graham's number.
      Even for 3↑↑↑3 (three arrows), you'd have to repeat the 'number of digits' procedure several _trillion_ times to arrive at something humanly digestible (or at a number expressible within our observable universe as described in the quote). For 3↑↑↑↑3 (4 arrows) that number not only far exceeds the number of Planck volumes in the observable universe, but is utterly beyond human comprehension itself.

    • @andrewbloom7694
      @andrewbloom7694 Рік тому +26

      @@RH-ro3sg They are all well beyond human comprehension. You can try to define them with things like arrow notation sure, but you can't fundamentally UNDERSTAND something like that. Not even the smartest human can.

    • @RH-ro3sg
      @RH-ro3sg Рік тому +32

      @@andrewbloom7694 I think it depends on how exactly you'd define 'comprehension' or 'understanding'.
      In a rather strict sense - intuitively _grasping_ and _feeling_ the magnitude of a number and immediately recognizing it without conscious thought, we as humans probably don't truly 'get' any number beyond approximately 7. Beyond that, we have to start counting (or approximating), both of which are already more indirect ways of appreciating a number.
      In the sense of being to able to _visualize_ a number in some manner, I'd say our comprehension ends at around a googol, if we're being very charitable (possibly the limit is much lower). You're talking about imagery such as 'a hundred million of our observable universes, filled to the brim with grains of sand' then. I suppose that visualization of such a type is what most people think of when they say they 'comprehend' a number. But it's not the only way to get to understanding.
      Numbers such as Graham's number can still be 'understood', but in a more indirect way, namely by the procedures used to obtain them.
      Finally, there are numbers so large that even the procedures to obtain them cannot be described anymore, they can only be _characterized_ . Rayo's number would be an example.
      Also, I'm not really sure I truly _comprehend_ even a number as low as three. (As in: what is the ultimate essence of 'three-ness'?)

    • @vedantsridhar8378
      @vedantsridhar8378 Рік тому +10

      Not even the number of powers, not even the number of arrows actually!

  • @ve4410
    @ve4410 2 роки тому +373

    "Can you give me a ballpark"
    "It's between 11 and Graham's number"
    "That's convenient".....

    • @austinlincoln3414
      @austinlincoln3414 2 роки тому +2

      Lol

    • @FatherManus
      @FatherManus 11 місяців тому +2

      Yeah that really narrows it down.

    • @finmat95
      @finmat95 8 місяців тому +2

      Ehy, previously it was between 6 and Graham's number, that's an improvement, you could at least thank me.

    • @user-hu9zi2jc2m
      @user-hu9zi2jc2m 2 місяці тому

      REALLY convenient

  • @X-3K
    @X-3K 7 років тому +3932

    So basically, this number happened because someone gave a Mathematician a coloring book.

  • @theviniso
    @theviniso 8 років тому +3476

    g64/g64=1. That's the only operation that I can do involving this number.

    • @panosm2007
      @panosm2007 8 років тому +552

      +Nastygamerx70 ­ (Yasser Moustaine) how about g64 * 0 = 0?

    • @panosm2007
      @panosm2007 8 років тому +25

      +Грамматический нацист nice

    • @funnydogman9534
      @funnydogman9534 8 років тому +12

      g64÷0=error

    • @funnydogman9534
      @funnydogman9534 8 років тому +195

      3^^^^^^^^^^...(g64 arrows)3 = g65

    • @funnydogman9534
      @funnydogman9534 7 років тому +8

      g64-(g64-1)=1

  • @leisulin
    @leisulin 2 роки тому +855

    But even as they almost literally said: Graham's number is unimaginably large, but it's still closer to zero than it is to infinity! Which boggles the mind even more.

    • @yam1146
      @yam1146 2 роки тому +12

      My brain is too small

    • @AA-el7ot
      @AA-el7ot 2 роки тому +76

      Infinity is not a number though

    • @franchstar1
      @franchstar1 2 роки тому +68

      doesn't really boggles the mind since infinity is not a number but a concept and all numbers would be closer to zero.

    • @Crazytesseract
      @Crazytesseract 2 роки тому +12

      What do you mean by "closer to infinity"? If you say 5 is closer to infinity than 3, or Graham's number is closer to infinity than one trillion, that's fine; but it makes no difference to "infinity". Graham's number can be imagined extremely few.

    • @leisulin
      @leisulin 2 роки тому +8

      @@Crazytesseract I mean just what I said. Actually my comment comes from some cartoon that was forwarded to me (the name of which I don't remember) depicting a kid in bed saying to his dad "I'm not sleepy yet, could you tell me a bedtime PARADOX" (not story), and the dad says "every number is closer to zero than infinity, but still we approximate large numbers as infinite". Which knocks the kid unconscious from the paradoxical shock.

  • @onebigadvocado6376
    @onebigadvocado6376 3 роки тому +198

    "There's a very easy analogy"
    (Promptly fails the analogy)

  • @nthgth
    @nthgth 9 років тому +3092

    "There's still an infinite number of numbers that're bigger than Graham's number, right? So frankly, we pretty much nailed it as far as I'm concerned." Lmao

    • @Ida-xe8pg
      @Ida-xe8pg 5 років тому +86

      I actually know graham's number G64/G64 = 1 , G64-G64 = 0 , G64*G64 = G64^2 ,G64+G64 = G64*2!!

    • @Ida-xe8pg
      @Ida-xe8pg 5 років тому +32

      Graham's Number! universe collapse

    • @shyshka_
      @shyshka_ 5 років тому +34

      so does it mean that the calculation is infinitely precise?

    • @danielxu3594
      @danielxu3594 5 років тому +15

      @Fester Blats And also every number is less than Grahams number at the same time.

    • @zasharan2
      @zasharan2 5 років тому +6

      The thing is, can you actually express those bigger numbers without saying G64 + some other number, or without using that same strategy more times, and one guy named Rayo did that. He gave a statement that gave a number bigger than Graham’s number, without using the way graham got his number.

  • @123games1
    @123games1 8 років тому +622

    Graham's number is so insanely large that the number representing the number of digits in Graham's number would have an incomprehensible number of digits itself!

    • @jakethornton7
      @jakethornton7 8 років тому +59

      +123games1 That even starts to apply around G1.

    • @RockerSkate1423
      @RockerSkate1423 8 років тому +15

      +123games1 Yeah man, even the number of digits would be a mind-blowing number, it's just insane.

    • @drinkingthatkool-aid3193
      @drinkingthatkool-aid3193 8 років тому +34

      +Andrés Ramírez Yep even 3^^5 already has 0.61 x 10^(3.64 trillion)....DIGITS. And you still need to go down 7.6 trillion 3's to get 3^^^3.

    • @RH-ro3sg
      @RH-ro3sg 3 роки тому +41

      In fact, if you repeated that process (the number representing the number of digits of the number representing the number of digits of Graham's number), and then again, and so on, even the _number of times you'd have to repeat that process_ to arrive at a number comprehensible for average humans would _still_ form an incomprehensibly large number of digits.
      And probably repeating the process on _that_ number still would. And so on. As a commentator once put it: "Graham's number is far larger than most people's intuitive conception of _infinity_ .
      ((Coincidentally, taking 'the number of digits' approximately is what you are doing when taking the logarithm of a number, so essentially we are talking here about log(log(log((log(g64) and the number of 'logs' you'd need to arrive at something digestible))
      ".

    • @user-bc3ri8ez9c
      @user-bc3ri8ez9c 3 роки тому +1

      Even the universe isn't enough to make a 1%

  • @The_Story_Of_Us
    @The_Story_Of_Us 2 роки тому +186

    What makes Graham’s Number so great is that despite its (literally) unfathomable size, we can using less than a page’s worth of word’s describe how to get there. We can describe what 3↑3 means, we can describe what 3↑↑3 means, what 3↑↑↑3 means and what 3↑↑↑↑3 means, then we can describe what G1 is, all the way up to G64, all of it a process of iteration. And using just the power of these symbols and descriptive iteration, we can arrive at a number with 100% precision that arithmetic literally can’t even come close to describing. So when we say that we can’t picture Graham’s Number, I think that’s doing our brains a disservice.

    • @The_Story_Of_Us
      @The_Story_Of_Us Рік тому +11

      @Oak Tree but we do legally own it.
      Whereas a number like TREE(3) is just so big we can’t describe it all, we don’t know how to arrive at that number via iterative process.

    • @The_Story_Of_Us
      @The_Story_Of_Us Рік тому +3

      @Oak Tree I mean obviously they’re there. If you just divide 1 by Graham’s Number for example, but in terms of something practically applicable like Tree 3 or Graham’s Number, then yeah, that’d be cool.

    • @MABfan11
      @MABfan11 Рік тому +3

      @@The_Story_Of_Us Bird's Array Notation can reach TREE(3) and beyond

    • @The_Story_Of_Us
      @The_Story_Of_Us Рік тому

      @@MABfan11 How do we even begin to know these kind of things?…

    • @BokanProductions
      @BokanProductions Рік тому +1

      You guys know how the new Webb Satellite from NASA allowed us to see more of the observable universe? I believe it's only a matter of time before we can see enough of the universe that Graham's Number could theoretically fit it in it.

  • @ottoweininger8156
    @ottoweininger8156 6 років тому +91

    The bit where he said we've narrowed it in from between 6 and Graham's Number, to between 11 and Graham's Number made me laugh.

    • @TheSpotify95
      @TheSpotify95 Рік тому

      yeah, both 6 and 11 are tiny compared to even g1, let alone g64

    • @MABfan11
      @MABfan11 6 місяців тому +1

      the new lower bound is 13

  • @livinlicious
    @livinlicious 9 років тому +830

    The first digit of Grahams Number is 1. (in Binary)

    • @Gonzaga78
      @Gonzaga78 9 років тому +9

      Hurr Durr

    • @chrisroberts4599
      @chrisroberts4599 9 років тому +55

      The first digit of Graham's number is 1 in Unary, Binary and Ternary. What are the odds?

    • @PattyManatty
      @PattyManatty 9 років тому +17

      Chris Roberts In ternary it could be 2.

    • @chrisroberts4599
      @chrisroberts4599 9 років тому +81

      PattyManatty Nope, it's a one. 10^N always start with 1 in decimal, and 3^N will always start with 1 in ternary.

    • @PrimusProductions
      @PrimusProductions 9 років тому +44

      Graham's number is odd
      Graham's number is divisible by 3,9,27 and all powers of 3 up to Graham's number,
      log(3,G64) is an integer
      The last digit of Graham's number is 1 in Binary (because it is odd).

  • @squirrelknight9768
    @squirrelknight9768 9 років тому +678

    "Frankly, we pretty much nailed it!"
    Lol that cracked me up

    • @NoriMori1992
      @NoriMori1992 9 років тому +40

      Same! And his face when he says it is priceless.

    • @MrFrak0207
      @MrFrak0207 7 років тому +9

      SquirrelKnight I love that guy Hahahha

  • @guepardo.1
    @guepardo.1 5 років тому +266

    Graham once taught a king how to play chess, and the king promised to give him g1 grains of rice for the first square on the chess board, g2 grains for the second square, g3 grains for the third square...

    • @apollog2574
      @apollog2574 3 роки тому +52

      And so the universe was annihilated

    • @donovanshea3308
      @donovanshea3308 3 роки тому +74

      And henceforth the Venezuelan currency was inflated beyond belief

    • @bachpham5025
      @bachpham5025 2 роки тому +18

      Jokes aside. Even if the king promised to give him only 1 grain of rice for the first square, 2 grains for the second, 4 grains for the third, 8 grains for the forth…etc ; the king cant keep his promise with all the rice on earth!

    • @SirBojo4
      @SirBojo4 Рік тому

      @@donovanshea3308 Consequently Uncle Sam embargo'd Venezuela to space-time's fabric decay!

  • @Dogebloxian
    @Dogebloxian 2 роки тому +43

    "Graham's number is still closer to zero than it is to infinity"

    • @bunnyloverplayz1371
      @bunnyloverplayz1371 Рік тому +2

      Well obviously all numbers are

    • @jd9119
      @jd9119 3 місяці тому +2

      Zero and Graham's number are both numbers. Infinity isn't a number. It's a direction on a number line.

    • @jamesworley9888
      @jamesworley9888 Місяць тому

      Space is the only thing that we know for sure must be infinite, even if the universe isn't the space beyond and within it is. The only exception would be if somewhere we were surrounded by an infinite brick wall, and again there must be an infinite amount of space to contain it , so space is and must be infinite, there is no other possibility.

    • @jd9119
      @jd9119 Місяць тому

      @@jamesworley9888 That's not true. You're making an assumption.

    • @jamesworley9888
      @jamesworley9888 Місяць тому

      @@jd9119 There is no assumption, I never said ''the universe'' IE ''the stuff IN space is infinite. I said space itself is infinite and no 'one who can think for 5 seconds is able to disagree. Tell me what wall could exist that says ''space ends here'', such a thought is utter nonsense. Especially sense the wall couldn't exist without an infinite volume. Your head would have to be thicker than that wall to even think such a thing or second guess the logic. Tell me where the space ends and anyone can debunk you simply by asking what is beyond that??? The answer is and can only be more volume IE SPACE!!!! You DMF

  • @opmike343
    @opmike343 7 років тому +296

    Well, that escalated quickly...

    • @samarvora7185
      @samarvora7185 5 років тому +16

      Congratulations, dear sir! You've summed up the entire video!

    • @cate01a
      @cate01a 3 роки тому +3

      yes! I've just been learning about n^^x and then when you've 3^^^^3 I'm going 'woah mate calm down' but then he comes in with g2=3(3^^^^3 ^'s)3 and I mean that's worthy of a stupidly large immense number but then it's g64! woah!

    • @Combobattle
      @Combobattle 2 роки тому

      exponentiated quickly

    • @robertjarman3703
      @robertjarman3703 2 роки тому +2

      @@cate01a g64! would be Graham´s Number, factorial. Go Graham´s Number times (Graham´s Number-1), so on all the way down to one, which is a catastrophically large number, so much bigger than Graham´s number that G64 might as well be 0 compared to it.

    • @karlfeldlager7662
      @karlfeldlager7662 2 місяці тому

      @@robertjarman3703 Had you said 1 instead of 0, OK. But 0? 0 is stupidly tiny, I should say. Anyway, G64! is WAY below G65, for starts.

  • @megatrix500
    @megatrix500 7 років тому +2019

    now... Gn↑↑↑↑↑...↑↑↑↑↑Gn.
    |---Gn times---|
    Let the universe collapse.

    • @Daniel-dc5mr
      @Daniel-dc5mr 7 років тому +24

      Megatrix500 wow

    • @Scias
      @Scias 7 років тому +241

      Just writing that endangers the existence of the universe, be careful lol

    • @eclipseskaters
      @eclipseskaters 7 років тому +129

      Still an infinite amount of numbers larger than that number.

    • @ashen_cs
      @ashen_cs 7 років тому +60

      Haven't even reached Aleph^1 yet

    • @abacussssss
      @abacussssss 6 років тому +60

      Less than g66.

  • @sproins
    @sproins Рік тому +62

    Other mathematicians explaining big numbers: You'd run out of space to write down all the digits.
    Matt Parker: You'd run out of pens in the universe.

  • @grantmayberry7358
    @grantmayberry7358 5 років тому +29

    8:30 "We pretty much nailed it as far as I'm concerned." Never mind the fact that that number is longer than the observable universe.

    • @BokanProductions
      @BokanProductions Рік тому +1

      You guys know how the new Webb Satellite from NASA allowed us to see more of the observable universe? I believe it's only a matter of time before we can see enough of the universe that Graham's Number could theoretically fit it in it.

    • @TheSpotify95
      @TheSpotify95 Рік тому

      @@BokanProductions Let's first try and find a way of writing down the full expanded value of 3↑↑↑3 (the tower itself reaches to the Sun), then go to 3↑↑↑↑3, then go from there.

    • @BokanProductions
      @BokanProductions Рік тому

      @@TheSpotify95 Alright, I get it you don't need to explain more.

  • @StardropGaming
    @StardropGaming 8 років тому +1757

    Plot twist: Graham's Number + 2 is prime.

    • @martinshoosterman
      @martinshoosterman 8 років тому +113

      +StarDrop +Rip proving that.

    • @tannerearth0396
      @tannerearth0396 6 років тому +133

      (2^G)+1 is prime. I checked

    • @dennismuller1141
      @dennismuller1141 6 років тому +167

      @TannerEarth03 - GTA Boss
      actually, (2^n)+1 can only be prime if n is a power of 2. G is a power of 3, so (2^G)+1 can't be prime. primes in the form of (2^n) + 1 are called Fermat-primes btw

    • @reuben2011
      @reuben2011 5 років тому +30

      Wikipedia has a proof. The idea is that you can always factor a sum of odd powers (e.g. x^3+y^3). Now, if n were not a power of 2, then it has an odd prime factor p. So you can write n = kp where k is some integer. Thus, 2^n + 1 = 2^(kp) + 1 = (2^k)^p + 1^p and thus we've written 2^n+1 as a sum of odd powers (which factors).

    • @NeemeVaino
      @NeemeVaino 5 років тому +13

      @@dennismuller1141 Fermat numbers are of form 2^2^n+1 and there is no known primes for n>4. Mersenne numbers are of form 2^n-1 and contain large primes but very sparsely.

  • @cameronpotter2493
    @cameronpotter2493 9 років тому +491

    The real problem makes wayyyyy more sense than the weird analogy about the committees and people thing.

    • @thomashudson9524
      @thomashudson9524 3 роки тому +8

      Thank you

    • @xCorvus7x
      @xCorvus7x 2 роки тому +9

      Care to describe it, while you're at it?

    • @NoriMori1992
      @NoriMori1992 2 роки тому +3

      @@xCorvus7x Ron Graham describes it in another Numberphile video.

    • @protonix07gaming8
      @protonix07gaming8 2 роки тому +13

      they actually didn't do a great job here, explaining the committee analogy, with the switches between Tony and Matt, also the fact that they were saying the analogy right from their head, but if read in a paper, the analogy is actually very easy to follow.

    • @adamqazsedc
      @adamqazsedc Рік тому +1

      @@xCorvus7x Graham himself actually explained the number, the proper and more understandable way

  • @emmeeemm
    @emmeeemm 3 роки тому +22

    lol, I love that Graham's Number is so huge that it takes multiple mathematicians to explain it in one Numberphile video.

    • @asusmctablet9180
      @asusmctablet9180 9 місяців тому +1

      And yet we know that Graham's Number has a Persistence of 2. Let THAT sink in.

  • @SnlDrako
    @SnlDrako 5 років тому +19

    Math. Where you can put it "it's somewhere between 6 and Grahams Number" and be considered precise AF, while messing up two decimal points in an equation and still fail in class. I love math.

  • @IVAN3DX
    @IVAN3DX 7 років тому +755

    2:38 Matt.exe had stopped working.

    • @JimmyLundberg
      @JimmyLundberg 7 років тому +58

      That's when the balding process began. :(

    • @achyuthramachandran7391
      @achyuthramachandran7391 7 років тому +9

      IVAN3DX I was reading this EXACTLY when he said "that that that that" 😂😂😂😂 killed me 😂😂😂😂😂

    • @SpaceChimpProduction
      @SpaceChimpProduction 6 років тому

      IVAN3DX

    • @dranreb2250
      @dranreb2250 6 років тому +1

      Right after seeing this, youtube crashed...

    • @mrsuperguy2073
      @mrsuperguy2073 6 років тому

      I didn't even notice!

  • @marcelinozerpa3947
    @marcelinozerpa3947 8 років тому +501

    I got lost at "committee"

  • @verdi8325
    @verdi8325 2 роки тому +8

    This is my favourite UA-cam video of all time. Absolutely blows my mind.

  • @TheJaredtheJaredlong
    @TheJaredtheJaredlong 4 роки тому +18

    I still can't imagine what logical sequence of steps gives you such a massive number as an answer.

    • @tristo2005
      @tristo2005 Рік тому +2

      Numbers can get really big really fast given the right equation

  • @doemaeries
    @doemaeries 9 років тому +369

    In the next math test I just write 6

    • @knox140
      @knox140 9 років тому +144

      tfw the answer is 5

    • @JohannaMueller57
      @JohannaMueller57 9 років тому

      aha

    • @jabruli
      @jabruli 9 років тому +96

      -G64

    • @JohannaMueller57
      @JohannaMueller57 9 років тому +13

      Jakob Lippig
      why not -infinity < x < infinity? you guys just lack brain so much.

    • @jabruli
      @jabruli 9 років тому +53

      Cuz infinity contains x

  • @ckmishn3664
    @ckmishn3664 7 років тому +263

    According to the holographic principle the most data (bits) that can be stored in a volume is equal to the area of a bounding sphere in Planck lengths squared divided by 4. The visible universe is about 10^26 meters in length and Planck length is ~10^-35, so very roughly the visible universe can contain something like 10^122 bits of data before being "full" and collapsing into a black hole.
    Writing out, or otherwise listing the full expansion of a number without resorting to exponents, arrow-notation, recursion or other methods of compression requires a number of bits equal to the log of the number.
    Saying that your brain would collapse into a black hole if you had all the digits of Graham's Number in your head is one of the all-time biggest understatements. The entire visible Universe actually can't even contain the expansion of 3(three arrow)3. In fact even if you use exponents but just insist on printing out the exponents you still can't print out the expansion of 3(four arrow)3. Even resorting to arrow notation I think it's impossible to print out the expansion for the number of arrows any more than three levels lower.

    • @YanTales
      @YanTales 7 років тому +6

      but we can imagine it, and we are imagining it with our physical brain so it can exist and it does.

    • @ckmishn3664
      @ckmishn3664 7 років тому +28

      Gaming Power Cool. Please imagine it and tell me what the first digit of Graham's number is (in base 10).

    • @YanTales
      @YanTales 7 років тому +27

      Patrick Wise its between 0 and 9

    • @ckmishn3664
      @ckmishn3664 7 років тому +6

      Gaming Power So you know for a fact it's not a 9? Well that's something I guess.

    • @YanTales
      @YanTales 7 років тому +5

      Patrick Wise my bad, between 0 and 9 including 9.

  • @amogus5902
    @amogus5902 3 роки тому +20

    I once heard an analogy to describe grahams number, and it kinda helps me to wrap my head around it-
    If you filled the entire universe with digits the size of a Planck length (0.00000000000000000000000000000161255 meters) and in those digits were universes filled with Planck length digits, you would not have enough digits to represent Grahams number.
    For reference, there are 10^186 Planck lengths in the universe

    • @philip8498
      @philip8498 2 роки тому +5

      i dont think you would have enough digits in there to describe G1 in there. let alone G64

    • @vedantsridhar8378
      @vedantsridhar8378 Рік тому +1

      @@philip8498 In fact there isn't even enough space to write down all the digits of 3^^^3! (^ stands for 'arrow'). There isn't even enough space to write down the number of digits in the number of digits. Even the number of digits in the number of digits in the number of digits. And you keep saying 'in the number of digits' 7.6 trillion times, before you get to a number which you can theoretically write down in our observable universe, because that number contains a few trillion digits.

    • @TheSpotify95
      @TheSpotify95 Рік тому

      @@vedantsridhar8378 Indeed. Remember, 3↑↑4 contains 3.6 trillion digits (you'd need a whole library of books to be able to print this number in text), 3↑↑5 has a 3.6 trillion digit exponent (so already we can't describe the number of digits, as that number is more than the Planck volumes that could fit the Universe), and 3↑↑↑3 actually means 3↑↑(7.62 trillion). That's 7.62 trillion, not just 5.

  • @sebastianweigand
    @sebastianweigand Рік тому +88

    Love the channel, keep up the great work!

  • @turicaederynmab5343
    @turicaederynmab5343 10 років тому +359

    I've got such a headache after watching this, just thinking about a number with 1 digit larger makes my stomach hurt.

    • @chadcarl7554
      @chadcarl7554 6 років тому

      how ironic, my head hurts as well.

    • @ryan2-518
      @ryan2-518 6 років тому

      Suraj's opinion can die in a hole that's not ironic

    • @equilateraltriangle8619
      @equilateraltriangle8619 6 років тому +2

      This is an antidote (to end your life(no offense)) G64^^^^(G64^^^^G64xRayo’s number)^G64.

    • @davecrupel2817
      @davecrupel2817 6 років тому

      Stop thinking with your stomach 🤣

    • @jaredunrot717
      @jaredunrot717 5 років тому

      Sadly my mind has collapsed

  • @alexdabeast1892
    @alexdabeast1892 8 років тому +690

    (Graham's number)!

    • @horrorandgames
      @horrorandgames 8 років тому +73

      I think you would need a computer with a nuclear reactor for computing power 😂

    • @alexdabeast1892
      @alexdabeast1892 8 років тому +2

      :D

    • @matthewdaws9877
      @matthewdaws9877 8 років тому +28

      +AlexDaBeast g64! ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ g64!

    • @GarryDumblowski
      @GarryDumblowski 8 років тому +43

      +Wout Kops A nuclear reactor doesn't make any difference.
      It's just a power source.
      You could power any old computer with a nuclear reactor.

    • @TankleKlaus
      @TankleKlaus 8 років тому +7

      +MrAlen61 How about (number of sub-atomic particles in the observable universe)! ^googolplex ?

  • @gupta-pw5xb
    @gupta-pw5xb 6 років тому +35

    *Infinity* : Here's my son

    • @j.hawkins8779
      @j.hawkins8779 2 роки тому

      With TREE(3) being either the older or younger brother LOL

  • @jarchibald14
    @jarchibald14 3 роки тому +3

    This is one of the best videos on youtube, I come back once every couple years and watch it to get again

  • @user-gi3ro9rm9k
    @user-gi3ro9rm9k 7 років тому +194

    i will give the man who tells me the entire graham's number a nobel peace prize for stopping the chaos going inside my head right now

    • @delilahfox3427
      @delilahfox3427 7 років тому +44

      Kyu Hong Kim
      That's physically impossible.

    • @vgamerul4617
      @vgamerul4617 5 років тому +1

      @@delilahfox3427 tf

    • @vgamerul4617
      @vgamerul4617 5 років тому +5

      @strontiumXnitrate killed 2852 kids' hope

    • @NotAGoodUsername360
      @NotAGoodUsername360 5 років тому +12

      Actually, quantum mechanics forbids this.

    • @Dexuz
      @Dexuz 4 роки тому +23

      The universe may as well collapse and recreate itself a g63 times before that man ends.

  • @nuklearboysymbiote
    @nuklearboysymbiote 9 років тому +805

    well nobody says it HAS to start with a 3. So... I started with a 1. And my brain didnt become a black hole because the end result (g64) is 1.

  • @rxhx
    @rxhx Рік тому +11

    Two questions though:
    1) Why does Graham's number finish at that satisfying number G64?
    2) Why/how do we know its last digits but not the first??

    • @Machame08
      @Machame08 Рік тому +2

      Given the hidden synchronicities prevalent in math I think it would have almost seemed stranger for it to finish at some arbitrary number

    • @Travvypattyy
      @Travvypattyy Рік тому +1

      Minecraf

    • @karlfeldlager7662
      @karlfeldlager7662 2 місяці тому

      ad 2) Take powers of two: They end in 2,4,8,6,2,4,8,6 .. but start with 2,4,8,1,3,6,1,2,5,1,2,4,8,1 .. . At the end we can compute "modulo", at the front not.

  • @claudioestevez1028
    @claudioestevez1028 Рік тому +3

    I just realized how precise all my mathematical answers have been. I've been nailing it all my life.

  • @romanr9883
    @romanr9883 8 років тому +179

    "we pretty much nailed it, as far as im concerned" hrhrhr

  • @unclvinny
    @unclvinny 8 років тому +170

    I like to think about Graham's Number before I go off to sleep. Thanks, Numberphile!

    • @hymnodyhands
      @hymnodyhands 6 років тому +15

      unclvinny I thought I was the only one... Why count sheep when you can count endless towers of threes?

    • @blue9139
      @blue9139 5 років тому +3

      I think of utter obvilion lol

    • @idioting
      @idioting 4 роки тому +3

      im definitely going to not sleep for 70 days after this

    • @cate01a
      @cate01a 3 роки тому +6

      ​@@hymnodyhands three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three three to the three to the three...

  • @professorgrimm4602
    @professorgrimm4602 Рік тому +1

    "The answer is between 11 and Graham's number"
    Wow thanks, that narrows it down so much. Any day now we'll have the precise answer.

  • @PC_Simo
    @PC_Simo Рік тому +1

    Donald Knuth: ”How many arrows do you want?”
    Ron Graham: ”Yes.”

  • @GarrettBorden
    @GarrettBorden 7 років тому +247

    It's crazy how incomprehensible Graham's number is. It's a shame that some people can't grasp it. "Is a googolplex bigger?" Lol. G1 dwarfs googolplex. Like it's not even comparable. And G2 is exponentially larger than G1. And so on. G63 might as well be "1" compared to G64! It's just mind boggling but I love this stuff. I started watching stuff on horizontal arrow notation and it's just ridiculous how quickly numbers start growing!

    • @sebastianschon3141
      @sebastianschon3141 6 років тому +39

      And then realize that this number - Grahams number - Is ridiculously small - compared to G65.

    • @danielw.4876
      @danielw.4876 5 років тому +28

      If you walked a googolplex miles, and then you walked Graham's number miles, they would both feel like the same amount since your brain would have no way of remembering how long you had walked for.

    • @lindsaytang1017
      @lindsaytang1017 5 років тому +2

      G63 might as well be 0

    • @nsprphg
      @nsprphg 5 років тому +1

      Are there more angles in a circle than G64?

    • @ZyphLegend
      @ZyphLegend 5 років тому +23

      Honestly, saying that G2 is exponentially larger than G1 sounds like an understatement. I feel like we need a new word to describe the absolutely mind bobbling distance between the two.

  • @PhilBagels
    @PhilBagels 9 років тому +250

    I know the digits of Graham's number in base 3. They are 10000000...0000000.

    • @PhilBagels
      @PhilBagels 8 років тому +29

      And while I'm at it. the digits in Graham's Number in base 27 are also 100000...00000. And the same is true in base 3^3^3 (~7.6 trillion), and in base 3^3^3^3, etc.

    • @erichernandez6102
      @erichernandez6102 8 років тому +126

      I know Graham's number in base Graham's number: It's 10.

    • @coopergates9680
      @coopergates9680 8 років тому +5

      Eric Hernandez That's nice, unless you attempt to write G2, G7, G33, etc, etc. in that base.

    • @zoranhacker
      @zoranhacker 8 років тому +3

      Eric Hernandez umm isn't it 1?

    • @zoranhacker
      @zoranhacker 8 років тому +12

      zoranhacker oh right, it's not lol

  • @regan3873
    @regan3873 4 роки тому +5

    2:15 I love this dude’s handwriting

  • @AceInAcademy
    @AceInAcademy 2 роки тому +6

    loved the explanation once again, hope to grasp the complete number in one go.

  • @Infinite_Omniverse
    @Infinite_Omniverse 9 років тому +108

    I used to be a mathematician like you, but then I took a Knuth's Up Arrow in the knee.

    • @blue9139
      @blue9139 5 років тому +1

      Oh no there are too many

    • @skair5425
      @skair5425 4 роки тому +2

      A FELLOW SKRYIMMER

  • @bastian_5975
    @bastian_5975 9 років тому +134

    Sum up this video in one sentence. Graham's number... IS OVER 9000!!!!

    • @coopergates9680
      @coopergates9680 9 років тому +9

      Bastian Jerome You mean (((9000!)!)!)!, or four consecutive factorials? Even that is less than g1 lollol

    • @bastian_5975
      @bastian_5975 9 років тому +4

      ok
      so I am correct In my asesment.

    • @coopergates9680
      @coopergates9680 9 років тому +1

      Bastian Jerome What game invented that phrase?

    • @bastian_5975
      @bastian_5975 9 років тому +1

      it wasn't a game, it was a man,and it was called Chuck Norris. He gave it to a show called Dragon Ball Z though. Goku had the line. someone asked what Goku's power level was when he went super saiyan and he responded "It's OVER 9000!!!"

    • @bastian_5975
      @bastian_5975 9 років тому

      ok it came from the show Dragon Ball-Z.

  • @as7river
    @as7river Рік тому +1

    Between 6 and G64.
    Matt: we've pretty much nailed it.
    That's a big nail, Matt.

  • @yeetpathak639
    @yeetpathak639 Рік тому +2

    1:12 This Madlad explains one of the most difficult to grasp nos. ever conceptualised with facing a clothes shop

  • @ckmishn3664
    @ckmishn3664 7 років тому +78

    Prof. Graham did a much better job of explaining the underlying problem directly than either Tony or Matt did with the "committee" analogy.

    • @greatwhitesufi
      @greatwhitesufi 7 років тому +35

      Well, he made the number.

    • @PeepzaHazMyNoze
      @PeepzaHazMyNoze 7 років тому

      he neither made the number nor explored it. Anyone can simply do this themselves..

    • @zoewells3160
      @zoewells3160 2 роки тому +7

      @@PeepzaHazMyNoze Well no nobody "makes numbers" but you know what they meant

    • @adamqazsedc
      @adamqazsedc Рік тому

      Agree

  • @slidenerd
    @slidenerd 9 років тому +198

    Chuck Norris came in Graham's dream and told him to try drawing squares and cubes with 2 colored pens:) He said "try it and you ll find my favorite number"

    • @MrRandomcommentguy
      @MrRandomcommentguy 5 років тому +27

      Chuck Norris counted to Graham's number. Twice.

    • @Perririri
      @Perririri 4 роки тому

      Shaggy at only 8% power can defeat Chuck

    • @Orange-wf8wh
      @Orange-wf8wh 4 роки тому

      Janeen Phayne wrong

  • @MKD1101
    @MKD1101 6 років тому +61

    *I am already struggling to find g spot and now you want me to figure out g64 as well!!!!!!!*

  • @eemikun
    @eemikun 4 роки тому +4

    8:48 Tony foreshadowing the TREE(3) video that came out five and a half years later!

  • @miklemikemuster
    @miklemikemuster 7 років тому +25

    "pretty much nailed it". I love these guys.

  • @Lordidude
    @Lordidude 8 років тому +104

    Gra'ms Noombah

    • @utetopia1620
      @utetopia1620 3 роки тому +3

      There's a lot of math jokes here, but I laughed more at your comment, mainly because I'm not a mathematician.

    • @hemanthgowda5269
      @hemanthgowda5269 3 роки тому

      Lol

    • @idkwhattoputhere616
      @idkwhattoputhere616 2 роки тому

      its just their accent

  • @firozfaroque7521
    @firozfaroque7521 6 років тому +2

    Your videos are informative it makes me fall in love with numbers again:) Thank you

  • @EliasMheart
    @EliasMheart 29 днів тому +1

    Funny way to threaten someone as a weird supervillain:
    "Hands up, or I'll think of Graham's Number, and this whole area will go down!!"
    xD

  • @bluey1328
    @bluey1328 8 років тому +262

    g64? dang even math trying to get in on that nintendo power...

  • @methanbreather
    @methanbreather 9 років тому +42

    things like this happen when you don't keep your mathemathicans busy.

  • @subscribefornoreason542
    @subscribefornoreason542 4 роки тому +8

    Here's a bigger number-
    Behold...G65
    Now I just need recognition

  • @rohitpaul805
    @rohitpaul805 2 роки тому

    The simple fact that talking about numbers like the G64, TREE(3) or Rayo's number, it makes me feel that how close we are getting to infinity, but then it comes to my mind that G64, TREE(3) or Rayo's number is 0.000....infinite zeroes...1% of infinity. These things are beyond the levels of human cognition but I love it

  • @T0rche
    @T0rche 10 років тому +90

    Graham's Number ↑↑↑↑↑↑Graham's Number worth of arrows↑↑↑↑↑↑ Graham's Number

    • @BradenBest
      @BradenBest 7 років тому +1

      G [G + 2] G
      From an abstraction of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth%27s_up-arrow_notation where [N] = ↑(N-2)

    • @norielsylvire4097
      @norielsylvire4097 6 років тому

      T0rche (g65)

    • @thehiddenninja3428
      @thehiddenninja3428 5 років тому +1

      Smaller than G66

  • @wheresmyoldaccount
    @wheresmyoldaccount 8 років тому +24

    Even plain old 2^64 -1 from the chessboard rice problem is a very large number (18 quintillion and something) to imagine.
    Once we get to 3↑↑↑3 , which is 3 with a power tree of 3's 7.6 trillion digits high... my brain gives in. 3↑↑↑3 is a number bigger than 10^3000000000000, whereas 10^80 accounts for the number of atoms in the known universe.
    And that number 3↑↑↑3 is way way way way beyond minuscule compared with 3↑↑↑↑3 (G1) which is way way way way way beyond minuscule compared with Graham's number.

    • @ecksdee9768
      @ecksdee9768 2 роки тому +2

      and to think other numbers like TREE(3) and SSCG(3) make Graham's Number look like 0 in comparison really blows your mind on how big numbers can get

    • @hyrumleishman3624
      @hyrumleishman3624 2 роки тому

      In conclusion: Numbers are ridiculous.

    • @TheSpotify95
      @TheSpotify95 Рік тому

      Actually, 3↑↑5 is bigger than your 10^(large number) that you describe, since 3↑↑5 is bigger than googolplex.
      At least you can actually wrote down the full tower length of 3↑↑5 on a piece of paper. You can't do that with 3↑↑↑3 (3↑↑7.62 trillion).

  • @NeemeVaino
    @NeemeVaino 5 років тому +19

    Explaining this to kids: Forget about g64, let's talk g1, the 3↑↑↑↑3:
    Smallest thing that can theoretically have any meaning is Planck length cube, largest meaningful volume is observable Universe. How much could one contain others? Well, something less than googol², not even googolplex that is 10^googol. So, googolplex is a nice number that we can tell how big it is - it has googol digits. About g1 we cannot do that. We cannot even tell how big is the number that tells how big it is. If we start to ask how big is the number that tells how big is the number that tells how big is the number ... so on, for how long? We cannot tell how long. How big is the number that tells how long it takes? No. How big is the number that tells how big is the number that tells... ... how long it takes. Still no. We cannot tell that. Meaning of words do not last that long. That's just g1, kids.

  • @alexanderhuber5830
    @alexanderhuber5830 6 років тому +1

    "We are narrowing in" - I love this british sense of humour; keep going guys-

  • @l34052
    @l34052 7 років тому +53

    I'm really bad at maths, I mean really hopeless but I've been fascinated by grahams number since I first heard about it a few years ago.
    There's just something really intriguing and fascinating about large numbers and the maths behind them.
    This and quantum mechanics are the 2 things I'd most dearly love to understand in life.

    • @andreasdluffy1208
      @andreasdluffy1208 4 роки тому +2

      Now dont hate me. But I think quantum physics is much more important then math. This type of math is kinda useless in my opinion

    • @abdulazis400
      @abdulazis400 2 роки тому +6

      @@andreasdluffy1208 useless type of math WILL BE useful given enough time.

    • @dailybroccoli7538
      @dailybroccoli7538 2 роки тому

      @@abdulazis400 and by those time, Quantum physics would have been printed in high school text books. Higher Maths is not useful period

    • @newwaveinfantry8362
      @newwaveinfantry8362 2 роки тому +8

      You're really ignorant if you would generalize all of higher mathematics as useless.

    • @MABfan11
      @MABfan11 Рік тому

      @@abdulazis400 wonder what Googology will be useful for...

  • @blazintitan277
    @blazintitan277 10 років тому +24

    Yup! We totally nailed it guys! Time for a coffee break!

  • @scottsterner4091
    @scottsterner4091 Рік тому

    my favorite thing about graham’s number is that, despite how ridiculously unfathomably massive all of the operations required to arrive at graham’s number may be, none of those operations increase by as much as just multiplying graham’s number by 2

  • @andrewbloom7694
    @andrewbloom7694 Рік тому +1

    5:15 "And all people appear in....I forget"
    Ah yes. The Parker Graham's Number Analogy

  • @9RedJohn9
    @9RedJohn9 9 років тому +19

    7:20 "This is just AH" best part!

  • @VaraNiN
    @VaraNiN 10 років тому +244

    Is there a way how Graham got to this stupidly big number, or has he just made it up and said the anwer just can't be higher than this?

    • @DonSunsetAtDawn
      @DonSunsetAtDawn 10 років тому +64

      He probably proved it.

    • @Maxuro
      @Maxuro 10 років тому +21

      Man really... is this supposed to be a serious comment? Or you are just trying to be fun? Because you're looking more stupid than funny. You really think that exists a mathematical theorem proven by just saying "Hey MAN! i made up this PRECISE and EXACT number, i'm sure that the solution of this question is under this number MAN because WHATEVER MAAAAAN, IT'S COOL!"
      Seriously?

    • @VaraNiN
      @VaraNiN 10 років тому +39

      Raumo
      Yes I am serious. Why cant Grahams Number be the same just with 4s or 2s or 5s or whaterver at the start? And why is it 64 times and not 63 or 65? I just don't see any way how you can come to such a gigantic number. Of course he had some theorys that said how large the number approx. has to be, but would it matter if I add or subtract 1? Or 2? Or a million? A trillion? A google? Or even a googleplex? Would this really change Grahams number in a way that it affects the whole theorem? That's what I meant to say with my original comment. But if you can explain to me why it starts with a 3 and has 64 iterations and that it WOULD matter if I would subtract 1 that's fine. I will be happy to accept it. (But please without starting to rage again, ok?)
      P.S: Our argument seems kinda' pointless, because I think someone has proven that the solution is between 13 and 2^^^6 (2 triple-arrow 6). Still a gigantic number but much, much, MUCH smaller than Graham's Number, I think we both can agree on that^^

    • @gocity9
      @gocity9 10 років тому +41

      obviously he proved it otherwise it wouldn't be so widely known.

    • @Timmoppy
      @Timmoppy 10 років тому +1

      That was explained in the video as to how he got there..

  • @youregonnaletityeetyouaway2882
    @youregonnaletityeetyouaway2882 2 роки тому +3

    fun fact: g(64) wasn't the number in grahams original paper, the original upper bound was actually much lower than that but martin gardner used g(64) to make it easier to explain so he could popularise it. the upper bound is now even lower (i think 2^^2^^2^^9?) and the lower bound has also changed to 13

    • @finmat95
      @finmat95 8 місяців тому

      from 11 to 13? that's a huge improvement!

    • @MABfan11
      @MABfan11 6 місяців тому

      the original number is roughly equal to G(7), which is why it has got the nickname Little Graham in the Googology community

  • @pcarlisi
    @pcarlisi 3 роки тому +1

    July 8 2020, RIP Ron Graham, the big number man...

  • @dash0173
    @dash0173 10 років тому +189

    Oh and what do you get when you multiply Grahams number by Grahams numer?

  • @mustafamkamel
    @mustafamkamel 10 років тому +17

    One of the things I don't understand: why did Graham stop at g64? I think it's already proven that you can't even imagine how big a number it is, so why don't go higher that 64?
    Also, Why is it based on 3?

    • @Nebukanezzer
      @Nebukanezzer 5 років тому +2

      Those questions you'd need to read his paper for.

  • @nqnqnq
    @nqnqnq 2 роки тому +2

    "the number of digits needed to describe this number, you couldn't describe". imagine this quote nested on itself g63 (or g62, i guess) times. that would do justice to describe g64.

  • @haddenindustries2922
    @haddenindustries2922 6 років тому +9

    are you home between 7 a.m. and Graham's number?

  • @morethanyell
    @morethanyell 10 років тому +47

    Infinity is larger than Grahams number but infinity is for sissies.

  • @dragoncrystal24
    @dragoncrystal24 10 років тому +9

    Thanks for explaining this! Graham's number is now my new favourite number, and I can't wait to see what my math teacher initially thought about it (he's guaranteed to have heard about it before, he's a math addict)

  • @chiquiramser6502
    @chiquiramser6502 3 роки тому

    Muchas bendiciones para usted y sus familia bendiciones de lo alto

  • @hamedhosseini4938
    @hamedhosseini4938 4 роки тому +13

    Mother: why don't you hang out with neighbors kid?
    Neihbors kid:

  • @michaelhartley6791
    @michaelhartley6791 8 років тому +56

    My year 11 class enjoyed this!!!

    • @Jiimys187
      @Jiimys187 5 років тому +1

      Michael Hartley but you’re not even a teacher

    • @d3generate804
      @d3generate804 4 роки тому

      Have you graduated yet?

  • @TheAed38
    @TheAed38 9 років тому +4

    The crazy thing is that as Carl Sagan puts it "A googolplex is precisely as far from infinity as is the number 1." As big as it is, the same thing goes for Graham's number.

  • @homoquicogitat6035
    @homoquicogitat6035 5 місяців тому

    Numbers like Graham's only make even more evident to me the mathematical nature of the universe itself and everything beyond. After all, anything can be described accurately with a large enough quantity of data, and if it can be described, it forms a structure in itself. Existence is all about information.

  • @SledgerFromTDS.
    @SledgerFromTDS. 3 роки тому +1

    So this Number is gonna be based off
    The Knuths Up Arrow Notation as it is:
    - Level 0: Counting (+1)
    - Level 1: Addition (+)
    - Level 2: Multiplication (×)
    - Level 3: Exponential (^)
    - Level 4: Tetration (^^)
    - Level 5: Pentation (^^^)
    - Level 6: Hexation (^^^^)
    So let's start off with 2^5 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 32, 2^^5 = 2^(2^2^2^2) = 2^(65536), 2^^^5 = 2^^(2^^(2^^2^^2)) = 2^^(2^^(65536))
    2^^^^5 = 2^^^(2^^^(2^^^2^^^2)) = 2^^^(2^^^(2^^(65536)))
    HBUN(1) = 2^^^^5
    HBUN(2) = 2(HBUN(1)^)5
    HBUN(3) = 2(HBUN(2)^)5
    Tip: Keep going on and on until you reach
    HBUN(100) = 2(HBUN(99)^)5
    Note: HBUN means Hector's Binary Upper Number
    Function: HBUN(C) = 2(HBUN(C - 1)^)5
    Size: This number is way bigger than G(64)

  • @jagjitdusanjh8356
    @jagjitdusanjh8356 10 років тому +80

    What would be the final digit of Graham's Number in Base 12?

    • @MrCubFan415
      @MrCubFan415 7 років тому +9

      Either 3, 6, 9, or 0. Not sure which, though.

    • @theleftuprightatsoldierfield
      @theleftuprightatsoldierfield 6 років тому +1

      Mr. Cub Fan 415 I'm pretty sure it's 3

    • @arnold84120
      @arnold84120 6 років тому +3

      it must be within this set s = { 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B} where A and B are the eleventh and twelfth digit in base 12

    • @FaceySmile
      @FaceySmile 6 років тому +2

      you don't say

    • @anwarinianwarini2660
      @anwarinianwarini2660 6 років тому

      E

  • @sdrtyrtyrtyuty
    @sdrtyrtyrtyuty 8 років тому +133

    "You'd run out of pens in the universe"
    Couldn't we just make more pens as we write?

    • @swagmonee5699
      @swagmonee5699 8 років тому +88

      We would probably run out of resources in the universe before we could write it down. Not just in the pens, but we would also need to write this number down on the fabulous brown paper the people at Numberphile famously use.

    • @evilcam
      @evilcam 8 років тому +22

      +sdrtyrty rtyuty Not unless the universe itself turns out to be infinite or nearly infinite, and the materials which make up pens and paper and ink was also infinite or nearly infinite. Well, infinite is not a useful bound in this case (because Graham's Number is still finite) , but we certainly need more atoms, and space itself to be bigger than what we currently observe.
      As we currently understand, there are around 10^80 individual atoms in the observable universe. Now, don't scoff at that number, it is immense. That is a lot of atoms. However, 10^80 is much smaller than Graham's Number. So, at least as per the estimation of how many atoms exist in the observable universe, there are nowhere near enough atoms themselves to write out even a small fraction of Graham's Number. We would have to find more atoms to convert into ink, pens and paper to write it out. There simply is not enough atoms in the known universe to write it down, even if you made the integers only the size of one atom.
      Likewise, there is not enough space in the Observable Universe to write it out. Keeping in mind that there is a whole lot of space that we can measure, it's still nowhere near enough. The Planck Length, which is the smallest computable region of space (at least where quantum energy scales can form wavelengths we can comprehend) is pretty damn small. Smaller than any atom, smaller than anything which makes up the things that make up the things that make up atoms. Even if we counted them and assigned one per digit of Graham's Number so that every Planck Length corresponded to just one digit, there is not enough of them in the Observable Universe to write it out. The best I could find with a quick google search is that there are 7.04 x 10^64 Planck Lengths in the radius of the Observable Universe. I found a very rough and very approximate calculation on some physics forum which said there were 10^186 cubic Planck Lengths (thank you to Ilya for doing this for us). Which is still much smaller than Graham's Number. We would need G64 Planck Lengths, cubed, in the universe to get that ratio. Unfortunately, we don't actually know how big Graham's Number is in any sense which would tell us how big the Universe would be if we had G46's worth off Planck Lengths, so I can't really give you an idea of how big that would be, because I don't know it and have absolutely no way to go about thinking about it.

    • @steve1978ger
      @steve1978ger 8 років тому +8

      +sdrtyrty rtyuty - Not just pencils. The current estimate of atoms in the universe is 10^80. So if you turned the whole universe into some kind of storage device where every atom would store one bit in its spin, you could not even remotely store G in it.

    • @sdrtyrtyrtyuty
      @sdrtyrtyrtyuty 8 років тому

      +steve1978ger Unless thr universe turned out to be substantially bigger than previously thought? Maybe we could find enough resources for this worthy feat ;)
      Also which way would we write? He said they dont know the first number but they do know the last one so I guess theyd start from the end and work forward.
      And also what is the left most known digit of Grahams number?

    • @rangarolls6018
      @rangarolls6018 8 років тому +7

      There wouldn't be enough atoms in the universe to do that

  • @jamessmith84240
    @jamessmith84240 Рік тому +1

    Can we take a moment to appreciate how lucky we are to have our human brains? I just realised we have the power conceive ideas larger than the universe we live in! Crazy stuff.

  • @as7river
    @as7river 5 років тому +1

    "Between 11 and Graham's number. Pretty much nailed it".

  • @dash0173
    @dash0173 10 років тому +8

    After a while, numbers just get to be scary...

  • @trentedwards6444
    @trentedwards6444 10 років тому +28

    I actually thought about something like this during class the other day, I was seeing the highest number I could get on the calculator with the least number of digits. This was how I did it ^-^

  • @jaggers7681
    @jaggers7681 5 років тому

    Grahams number is so freakin huge that no matter how small you write the number it would still be fit inside the observable universe

  • @jamesa6693
    @jamesa6693 4 місяці тому +1

    Police officer: excuse me sir do you know how fast you were going?
    Mathematician: the speed limit is 15.
    Police officer: you were doing 157
    Mathematician: nailed it😂

  • @EpicB
    @EpicB 9 років тому +13

    0:33 Just out of curiosity, I decided to calculate that entropy equation. Assuming r=4, here's what I got:
    Smax=A/4L^2
    A=4πr^2
    L=1.616*10-35 m
    A=201.06192982974676726160917652989
    4L^2=1.0445824*10^(-69)
    201.06192982974676726160917652989/1.0445824*10^(-69)=
    Smax=1.9248067919749247858436938678068*10^71
    There you go.

    • @EpicB
      @EpicB 8 років тому

      Cooper Gates I don't think even Oliver Queen could handle one arrow.

    • @coopergates9680
      @coopergates9680 8 років тому

      ***** Who's that? 3↑1 = 3 and 2↑2 = 4 haha

    • @msolec2000
      @msolec2000 8 років тому +4

      +Naveek Darkroom That is definitely something Twilight would do.

    • @aczepllin
      @aczepllin 8 років тому +1

      Love this got 2 likes and they both probably did it because they assume it's correct. Haha

    • @TheLuckOfTheClaw
      @TheLuckOfTheClaw 6 років тому

      Why would r be 4? Shouldn't it be something around 10^-1 m or less?

  • @scaper8
    @scaper8 9 років тому +6

    I once heard in regards to Graham's Number, that there are more digits in it in standard notation than there are estimated protons in the universe.
    Fantastic, fascinating, and fabulous!

    • @coopergates9680
      @coopergates9680 8 років тому +2

      scaper8 You only need 3↑↑↑4 to do that, lolz

  • @Yrrej8611
    @Yrrej8611 6 років тому +1

    Ok I have some questions:
    1) If we wrote Graham's Number in gold ink, would we call this "Golden Graham's Number?"
    2) If so, would this be considered a "Cereal" Number?

  • @richardbossman9875
    @richardbossman9875 6 років тому +12

    Chuck Norris once counted to Graham's number while playing hide and seek, and still found his opponent before they died of old age.