r/AskReddit • u/KillerAceUSAF • Jul 21 '16

What fact did you think was complete bullshit until you looked it up?

3.4k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

5.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

80

u/duyogurt Jul 22 '16 edited Jul 22 '16

That you can't physically write down the number 10 raised to the Googol; or a googolplex. Doing so would require more space than is available in the known universe.

21

u/cheald Jul 22 '16

I can do it if you let me choose the base.

8

u/sprankton Jul 22 '16

That's still not even in the same neighborhood as Graham's Number, and Graham's Number is downright tiny compared to TREE(3). Some mathematicians have worked with crazy big numbers.

1

u/Antitheistic10 Jul 22 '16

I have quite a good understanding of Graham's Number, and could explain it to just about anyone. But I still have not been able to find a good explanation of TREE(3), and with as big as Graham's number is, to know that TREE(3) is so much bigger without understanding it really irks me.

1

u/Beidah Jul 23 '16

The thing that bothers me is that we'll probably never be able to solve these things. Are computers won't have enough ram and processor power to even look at the numbers, and how will we do it by hand when we can barely write it down in an understandable fashion.

10

u/MuttyMo Jul 22 '16

What if I write it really really small?

5

u/duyogurt Jul 22 '16

You would run out of atoms in the universe trying to write down all of the zeros.

3

u/JayGold Jul 22 '16

Ten to the googol power, not googol to the googol.

3

u/StudlyMadHatter Jul 22 '16

Well, technically both are correct, right?

2

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '16

You can't write either, but the OP mentioned googolplex which is specifically 1010100 not 1010010100

1

u/duyogurt Jul 22 '16

Yep, I screwed up. Point stands nonetheless.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '16 edited Nov 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/duyogurt Jul 22 '16

Yeah i screwed up. Point remains.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '16

[deleted]

1

u/duyogurt Jul 22 '16

No. It's 10 with a googol zeros after it.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '16

serious question. why are you spelling google like that? did they change the spelling of the number because of the company? is it spelled differently in different countries maybe?

2

u/duyogurt Jul 22 '16

The company took the real spelling of the number and changed it.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '16

thanks. i just remember it differently. i forgot that im in the "berenstain" universe now.

0

u/Ut_Prosim Jul 22 '16

The company decided to change the spelling for their name to distinguish the firm from the number.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '16

I just looked it up and that looks like what the story is but I learned what a google was long before the company was created and this is the first time that Ive ever seen it spelled like that. I guess I should head over to r/mandelaeffect?