What is the largest number? Fascinating scientific search process

Many of us in childhood were sure that the largest number is a million. But, having matured, we realized that this is not the limit of calculus. After all, you can add a unity to each of the existing numbers and you get a completely new one. And so you can add endlessly.

What is the largest number in the world

Science knows two different systems of calculus - English and American. Therefore, in each of them the same number may have a different name. Therefore, in order to avoid misunderstandings, it is necessary to understand their differences.

American system

It is customary to use this system of calculation not only in the USA, but also in Canada, Russia and a number of other countries. The scientific name for the American system is short-scale numbers. The name of the numbers in it consists of two parts - an ordinal number in Latin + the suffix "- illion". This, for example, trillion, octillion, etc. How to understand how many zeros in each of these numbers? To do this, just use the formula 3 * x + 3. X - in this case means a numeral in Latin.

English system

Of course, the American system of calculus is quite simple, but the English or the system with a long scale has become more common. They began to use it in France, England, Spain and some other countries in 1948. Similarly to the American system, the suffix “-illion” is added to the Latin name to construct a number, but for numbers that turn out to be more than a thousand times, the suffix “-billion” is already added. To determine the number of zeros in a particular number, use the formula:

• 6 * x + 3 - for those numbers that end in "-illion";
• 6 * x + 6 - in the case when it ends in "-billion".

X - in both cases, it is a numeral in Latin.

For example, 10 ¹²  in the American system it will be called a trillion, and in the English billion, 10¹⁵ - a quadrillion in the American and billiards in the English system, and 10¹⁸ - respectively, the quintillion and trillion.

Based on this, we can conclude that different numbers can have the same name. Therefore, when considering a certain number, it is important to first find out which calculus system is used in this case.

Extra-system numbers

In addition to systemic numbers, there are also non-systemic numbers in science. What are they and how do they differ?

1. Googol. This number is 10 to the hundredth power of 10¹⁰⁰. It is recorded as a unit and one hundred zeros. They talked about him for the first time in 1938. The "discoverer" of the googol was Edward Kasner. It is worth noting that the famous search engine was named after this number. And such a strange name was invented by Kasner’s nephew and subsequently began to be used everywhere.
2. Asankheya. Translated from Sanskrit, this word means "innumerable." Asankheya is 10¹⁴⁰., simply put, a unit with 140 zeros. Surprisingly, this number was used before our era, which can be understood by studying one of the famous Buddhist treatises of the Jaina Sutra. In the treatise, special properties were attributed to this number, since it was believed that exactly as many cosmic cycles might be required for a person to achieve nirvana. In ancient centuries, it was this number that was considered as large as possible.
3. Googolplex. This number is similar to googol was introduced by the scientist Edward Kasner. His young nephew also had a hand in creating the name. This number can be expressed as 10 in the degree of googolplex. Using this theory, Kasner suggested that if necessary you can get as many as you need (googoltetraplex, gugoldekaplex, etc.).
4. G or as it is also called the Graham number.In 1980, he was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest possible number. According to scientists, this number is so huge that even the Universe cannot fit its decimal notation.
5. The numbers of Skewz and Moser. They are also recognized by scientists as maximally large. Usually they are used to solve theorems or various hypotheses. It turned out to be impossible to write them, so each scientist does this at his discretion.

What is the largest number in numbers

Despite the fact that the record holders among the numbers are already seemingly known, many scientists nevertheless doubt this and continue their search for a record holder, being confident that they will succeed. One of these mathematicians was an American from Missouri. At the beginning of 2012, his works were rewarded and he was able to discover a number consisting of 17 million digits. Prior to this, the largest number calculated in 2008 by a computer, consisting of 12 thousand digits, was considered. It was recorded as 2 ^43112609-1.

After the discovery of the American scientist, many scientists began their own checks. In order to confirm that this is the largest number, they took 39 days. All calculations were carried out on computers.

The process of finding the largest numbers

Of course, a simple layman is wondering how scientists manage to make such discoveries? I must say that all the calculations necessary for this are carried out by computers. Cooper, for example, used the distributed computing method. The calculation technique consists in the fact that all the necessary calculations are carried out by the program installed on the personal computers of the volunteers.

During the calculations, 14 Mersenne numbers were determined. Such numbers were named in honor of a mathematician from France, who spent many years calculating the largest possible number. A feature of these numbers is that they can be divided exclusively on themselves or on a unit. To calculate them, scientists use the formula M_n=2ⁿ-one. In this formula, n is a natural number.

An equally common question is why do mathematicians need this at all? After all, such numbers can hardly be used somewhere. Everything is pretty banal here - every scientist would like to become a pioneer. In addition, no one canceled the excitement. And, of course, material incentives. So, Cooper for his discovery received a prize of 3 thousand dollars. The incentive was also the promise of the Electronic Frontiers Fund to reward one who can calculate prime numbers, which will consist of one hundred million and 1 billion primes. In this case, the cash prize will be in the amount of 150 and 250 thousand US dollars, respectively.