about numbers?
By ladyhot
@ladyhot (19)
United States
November 29, 2008 8:56pm CST
does any one have any clue were the numbers stop? do they ever stop or just continue on until eternity? my 8 yr old asked me that question wow what a question!!!i was wondering does anyone know that? and how far does the money names go like all i can think of is gazillion and i dont even know if thats a word really lol!
1 person likes this
6 responses
@ThePaintGuru (541)
• United States
30 Nov 08
Well as you probably know numbers in fact continue on to infinity, however there is a practical limit to when we can stop counting them, and apparently an even higher limit to when we stop naming them. The highest number with a name or any kind of use is Graham's Number (I did a little research), which is so high that there is no practical method of notation for it, meaning that I can't write out it's value here although there are formulas for coming up with it. Graham's number is used in some kind of mathematical proof.
@jbrooks0127 (2324)
• United States
30 Nov 08
Not being a mathematician I cannot give you a definitive answer to that question but for the most part it would seem there truly would be no upper limit.
However there is a limit in practicality. My take on it is at the point it becomes no longer of use you have reached that limit.
Of course the government right now is doing it's part in trying to find that upper limit to define our national debt. Once you go beyond where they already are of what practical use would there be? LOL
@dpk262006 (58678)
• Delhi, India
24 Dec 08
I remember, in our childhood, one of our Maths teachers told us that numbers do not stop anywhere, they are indefinite. I remember he telling us that if you assume any number to be the greatest one, the moment you add one in it, its value changes, therefore numbers are indefinite.
@Autumnrose2008 (1478)
• United States
30 Nov 08
Wow what a question, and for a 8 year old as well. I would like to hear the answer as well. Then when my daughter asks me I will know the answer cause I am sure its just a matter of time till she asks me. I would really like to see how many zero's that one has when you right it down lol.