ED077712

Number Pleasantries 47
If we should now keep on through the "second period," the "third
period," and so on to the 1,000,000th period, the first of this
period would be t with 8o,000 billions of zeros after it. This number
would be far beyond our imagination, but it is small when
compared with the greatest number expressed by four figures.
This is
( 99)
n99
9,, or 9\9
First we should understand that the ninth power of 9, or 99, means
9 X9 X9 X9 X9 X 9 X9 X9X9
and this is easily found to be 387,420,48;. The tamber 9 must now
be raised to this power; that is, we musk id the value of 9381.4289.
We do not know what the result would be, but we do know that
there would be about 300,000,000 figures in it, the first tweiityseven
being 428,124,773,175,747,048,036,987,115, and the last
two being 89, but what cm between these two we do not know.
If the number were writte:, on a strip of paper in figures large
enough to be easily read, the strip would be sorr.ewhere between
740 miles and I too miles long. To print it would require 33
volumes of 800 pages each, each page-containing 1400 figures:
But this is only a beginning. The number 9 would again have to
be raised to the power indicated by the number above referred to
as having about 300,000,000 figures. The result would be what
the great German mathematician Gauss characterized as "measurable
infinity."
To gCt some further idea of its immensity we may consider that
k99)09 = 3$7,420,489331.420.489
would lead to an enormous number, but it would be insignificant
in comparison with the value of 90'.
If, therefore, we see that even 4 number written with only four
figures, three being exponents, has a value that could not possibly
be written by any human being, we may say that "there is no
such thing as the greatest number." Like endless space it is too
immense to he imagined.*
* WAliqzmann, Riesen and verge im ZahleurePhe. p. 32. Lipzig, 1912.